For the Birds: Yellow warbler no more; warbling vireo no more

Posted on June 20, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
A warbling vireo sings from a perch in New England.

Last year I wrote about finding a house wren and not being able to find it on the eBird list only to discover that the name of the bird had been officially changed to northern house wren.

Well, this year, there were two more similar name changes. First, the yellow warbler is now the northern yellow warbler. I think most people will continue to call it yellow warbler for years to come, but the familiar, loquacious yellow bird that nests throughout New England is, indeed, now the northern yellow warbler.

The reason for the change is to differentiate the migratory yellow warbler (the one we see in New England in spring and summer) from the non-migratory yellow warbler that is a year-round resident of the Caribbean, parts of Central and South America, and extreme southern Texas and Florida. That bird is now called the mangrove yellow warbler.

It seems to me they could have just added mangrove to the non-migratory bird’s name and left the more common yellow warbler’s name alone. But they did what they did, and we all have to get used to it.

By the way, “they” refers to the American Ornithological Society and other ornithologists and taxonomists. The name change has little to no impact on the casual birder. It has some significance for those who study birds for a living and those who keep fastidious life lists.

I discovered the other name change by accident. By now, most people are familiar with birding app Merlin. That’s the one that can, among many other things, identify nearby birds by their songs or calls. The “home page” of the app has a feature that randomly selects a local bird as your Bird of the Day. When you use the app and that bird is heard, it puts a little “Your Bird of the Day” message next to the entry.

Always one to welcome a new challenge, however inconsequential, I began a quest to find my Bird of the Day whenever I took a birdwalk. I don’t exactly knock myself out looking for the bird, but I get a small measure of satisfaction whenever the Bird of the Day message shows up on my list.

One day in mid-May, warbling vireo came up as my Bird of the Day. This will be easy, I thought. By mid-May, warbling vireos are seemingly everywhere and easy to spot and even easier to hear. Sure enough, shortly into my walk that day, I heard a warbling vireo. I glanced down at the phone to discover there wasn’t a Bird of the Day message next to the warbling vireo that showed up on the list.

I was confused for a few moments before realizing that Merlin identified the bird as an eastern warbler vireo, not simply warbling vireo even though “warbling vireo” was indeed my Bird of the Day. Apparently, they updated the name on the species-heard list but not as a Bird of the Day. If finding the Bird of the Day was a lucrative pursuit, I would have protested about getting cheated out of my bird that day. But it’s not, so I hardly gave it another thought — until now, that is.

So, yes, the bird New Englanders have been calling warbling vireo for so long is suddenly the eastern warbling vireo. Similar to the house wren and yellow warbler, the name change resulted from a split of a bird that formerly was considered the same species. The eastern warbling vireo breeds in the eastern and central parts of the U.S., while the western warbling vireo breeds out west. There is very little crossover range for the species.

In the grand scheme of things, not much has changed. People will continue to call the northern house wren a house wren, the northern yellow warbler a yellow warbler and an eastern warbling vireo a warbling vireo. But, in case you ever come across a birder in the woods who is a stickler for names, now you know the new official names.

For the Birds: Summer is for birding

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
Yellow warbler at Huntington State Park, Redding, CT. Yellow warblers are common summer sightings throughout New England.

Summer gets a bad rap for birdwatching.

Sure, it’s not as exciting as the spring migration when every day is a new discovery and a whirlwind of birding activity, but the summer has its own rewards. The most exciting part of summer birdwatching, of course, is discovering nesting activity and watching young birds grow. There’s much more to summer birdwatching, however.

First, let’s acknowledge some of the challenges to birdwatching in the summer. Finding a bird in the woods becomes extremely difficult as the leaves are out in full force. You can drive yourself batty trying to find an eastern wood pewee high atop a leafed-out maple or oak.

Birds are also much less vocal in the summer than they are in the spring. Very often in birdwatching, birds are heard before they are seen. You hear a bird, look in that direction, and you find the bird. It’s not always that easy, for sure, but you get the idea. In the summer, birds don’t always give us that verbal cue, making it much more difficult to spot them. Birds don’t want to be seen in the summer, as they are on nests or raising young. The last thing they want is to be discovered, so they remain hidden and silent.

Finally, birdwatching hours in the summer are not conducive to late sleepers or those who turn in early. The long days mean that the sun rises early and sets late. True of all seasons, the best time to watch birds in the summer is early morning or evening. By 9 a.m., the sun is already high and harsh in the sky, and the temperature is rising. You can still find birds in the afternoon, but even the birds seek out shade when it’s too hot.

Now on to the good stuff.

It’s always a thrill to see birds carrying nesting material or food for young in their bills. One of my favorite photos I took is a gray catbird with a bill full of insects. It paused on a perch just long enough before heading to its nest. The bird had five or six insects, all of a different variety, in its bill.

If you are lucky enough to find a nest, it is fun to watch the progress from eggs to babies to fledglings. This should be done in a cautious manner, of course. I wrote earlier this year about watching a pair of northern flickers hollow out a nest in a dead tree in my yard. You can’t see inside a woodpecker nest, but I know they are still there and likely have eggs now. Once they hatch, the baby birds will call constantly for food. It’s fun to watch the dutiful parents make several trips back and forth to the nest.

Summer is the best time to see waders in New England. Waders are tall, skinny birds found around the water, such as herons and egrets. While some great blue herons are year-round New England residents, most arrive in the spring and leave in the fall. That leaves summer as the best time to spot them. Since they are around water, they don’t have the cover of leaves to hide them.

Similarly, ospreys are a summer treat to see, especially around coastal areas, but also around large inland lakes and rivers. Ospreys were rare sightings in New England a few decades ago, but their population has increased dramatically to the point they are common sightings in the summer. Connecticut and Massachusetts, for example, each have more than 1,000 osprey nests. New Hampshire is estimated to have about 150 nests.

Another nice thing about birdwatching in the summer is that it can be done anywhere and combined with other outdoor activities. Going to the beach? Keep an eye out for shorebirds, terns and ospreys. Taking a hike? Look for woodland birds. Neighbor having a barbeque? Look for blue jays, nuthatches, catbirds, goldfinches, wrens and other backyard birds.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention hummingbirds. For some people, a highlight of summer is watching hummingbirds visit their feeders, potted flowers or flower gardens.

And, if the birding gets really slow in August, that’s a great time to look for butterflies, dragonflies and other creatures in fields and meadows.

Summer is often paired with words such as doldrums, dog days, dragging or sweltering. For birdwatchers, it’s just a different season with new opportunities.

For the Birds: Wrapping up the warbler season

Posted on June 5, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak – A northern parula sings from the top of a shrub in New England this spring.

Now that the spring migration is over, at least for the most part, it’s time to turn our attention to summer birdwatching.

Before we do that, I want to recap my spring birdwatching highlights. Spring highlights often begin and end with warblers, and this spring was no exception, although some non-warblers are certainly worthy of inclusion here.

It was another good spring for warblers. I’ll get into some of the less common ones later in the column, but the warblers that are often seen in New England did not disappoint. Yellow warblers were, and continue to be, seemingly around every corner. Their ubiquitous song is inescapable. (Not that I’d want to escape it in the first place.)

Other common warblers seen on nearly every walk this spring include common yellowthroats, black-and-white warblers, blue-winged warblers, palm warblers, ovenbirds, American redstarts, yellow-rumped warblers and pine warblers.

While the warbler action was pretty consistent, it was a slow spring for some of the other colorful birds we look forward to seeing after every long winter. The only scarlet tanager I’ve seen so far was a female that I saw briefly in the canopy weeks ago. I did, however, receive emails from both Pat from Sandwich and Greg from Tilton with photos attached of male scarlet tanagers at their feeders. Scarlet tanagers are not considered common feeder birds, but they will occasionally visit for suet or mealworms.

Thankfully, tanagers nest throughout New England so my window is far from closed.

It’s also been rather slow for rose-breasted grosbeak and indigo bunting sightings. By this time of the year, I’ve usually seen dozens of grosbeaks and at least a few buntings. So far, I’ve seen only a few grosbeaks and not a single bunting. Indigo bunting did come up on my Merlin app a few times, but I was never able to spot it.

Baltimore orioles, on the other hand, have been plentiful this spring on my walks. The other day, I spotted a bird near the top of a dead tree. Even at about 100 yards, I could see the bright orange plain as day. A peer through my binoculars confirmed that it was an oriole.

Warbling vireos, which were pervasive on my walks last spring, were somewhat more scarce for me this spring, but still plentiful. Red-eyed vireos were plentiful as well. Of course, catbirds and eastern towhees were constant companions too.

Less common warblers are always a thrill to see and a highlight of spring birdwatching. This year, my top warblers included hooded warblers, northern parulas, magnolia warblers, black-throated blue warblers, chestnut-sided warblers, and a Wilson’s warbler. Hopefully, I’ll make it to northern New Hampshire a few times this summer and find a few more warblers to add to the list.

Overall, it was a good spring for spotting migrants. Now it’s on to summer birding. Next week, we’ll look at some of the things to look for in the bird world during the summer.

Repeat performance for sandhill cranes at Presque Isle State Park

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
Sandhill cranes at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, May 2026.

It was a repeat performance for the sandhill cranes at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, earlier in May. Last year, my brother and I visited the park in my old hometown in northwestern Pennsylvania and were surprised to see sandhill cranes. Indeed, it was the first year the cranes attempted to nest at Presque Isle, which is a peninsula jutting into Lake Erie. Here’s the story from last year.

This year, the cranes are back, and by the time we visited the park, they had two young ones (colts) with them. I saw them only from a distance, so the photos aren’t great, but they’re serviceable enough. See the colt in the lower right of the top and bottom photos. I returned home to New England a few days later, and I haven’t heard whether the cranes were successful in raising the colts, but I hope so.

Sandhill cranes have also been nesting in random spots throughout New England over the last few years.

Photo by Chris Bosak
Sandhill crane at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, May 2026.

A few birds from spring migration

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
A red-winged blackbird defends his territory, May 2026.

Here are a few shots taken over the last two weeks. More to come.

A hooded warbler sings from a perch in New England, May 2026.

Photo by Chris Bosak
Black-and-white warbler at Huntington State Park, Redding, CT, May 2026.

For the Birds: A worthwhile detour

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
A female Baltimore oriole brings material back to her nesting site this spring.

On my way to visit my family in Pennsylvania, I decided to stop at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area in Sullivan County, New York, to see what birds might be in and around the giant marsh.

I used to canoe there frequently when I lived closer to that spot, but I hadn’t been there in many years. I didn’t have my canoe with me this time, but luckily there is a trail that follows the edge of the water and offers many expansive views.

As a bonus, the trail is wooded, so you get the shallow water on one side and the woods on the other. The Bashakill has a navigable channel winding through the middle, but the surrounding area is shallow water with thick aquatic vegetation where wood ducks and other birds find refuge.

I parked at the boat ramp where I had launched my canoe many times in the past and took a glance at the water before hitting the trail. Canada geese and red-winged blackbirds were the only birds I saw on the water at the moment. As soon as I started on the trail, however, I was surrounded by birdsong like only spring can offer.

The red-winged blackbirds’ familiar “conk-a-tee” call was the dominant sound, but the trees were filled with the songs of yellow warblers, warbling videos, yellow-throated videos, least flycatchers, American redstarts, Baltimore orioles, and blue-grey gnatcatchers.

I followed the trail for less than a mile when I came across a platform. It was about 15 feet high and overlooked the water. I noticed as soon as I got to the top of the platform that I was eye-to-eye with a Baltimore oriole nest with a female poking her head out of the leaves that surround the nest. She had soft nesting material in her bill, so I’m guessing she was in the process of finishing up the nest.

The high platform offered a great view of the surrounding trees. It was almost like being among the birds. On many occasions, I looked down on birds such as yellow warblers, warbling vireos and eastern phoebes.

In the same direction, but further into the woods from the oriole nest, I noticed a white-breasted nuthatch coming and going from a hole in a tree. Again, I was about eye level with this hole, which turned out to be a nest for the nuthatches. The male came and went and brought caterpillars back to the female inside the nest. She made a brief appearance at the opening of the hole when the male returned with worms and other goodies.

It was the first time I can recall finding an active nuthatch nest. As well-designed and camouflaged as oriole nests are, I have found those nests during the spring many times.

The action was so fast, yet peaceful, that I stayed on the platform for about an hour watching the birds. In the water, I saw several wood ducks as well as dozens of red-winged blackbirds and Canada geese. I didn’t see any ospreys or eagles, however. I found an eagle’s nest eye in a tall pine, but no birds appeared to be in it, and I never saw them flying or perched in a different tree.

I was surprised because eagles were always a very reliable sighting there. The same goes for osprey.

When I eventually climbed down from the platform, I was greeted at the bottom by a yellow warbler in a shrub almost within arm’s reach. This bird had no fear of me and flitted among the shrubs for a good five minutes before ascending to a higher spot in a nearby tree.

I am not usually the type to take detours when I am driving somewhere. When I drive, it is almost always about getting to the destination as quickly as possible and not about enjoying the journey. I do wish I could make it more about the journey sometimes, and I am glad I made this exception. Maybe this will inspire more journeys.

For the Birds: Don’t miss the action this spring

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
Yellow warbler at Huntington State Park, Redding, CT, May 2026.

Spring migration continues to work its magic.

My walks have been filled with migrants, including a few FOYs (first of years) each time I go out. On one recent walk, I saw a veery, red-eyed vireo, and American redstart, all firsts of the year. It’s always nice to see birds for the first time since last spring, summer or fall.

The feeling is a little different for birds that we know are just passing through and won’t nest here. Of course, it’s always nice to see the first rose-breasted grosbeak, scarlet tanager, Baltimore oriole or ruby-throated hummingbird, but we know they will nest locally, and we will have plenty more chances to see them over the next several months.

Some birds, however, especially select warblers, will not nest locally, so if we miss them during their short window of passing through New England, we have to wait until fall to try to catch a glimpse of them as they pass through during their southern flight. If we miss that opportunity, our next chance will be the following spring.

In many cases, it can be several years between sightings of a certain species. The other day, I saw a hooded warbler, an aptly named and cool-looking olive-and-yellow bird with a black hood and throat. It had been years since I had last seen one. I spotted the bird among a tangle of vines fairly high in the canopy, which was surprising because they tend to hang out in shrubs and the understory.

Unless you’re really lucky and these birds come to your yard, you have to get out there in order to see them. Some days it’s tough to get out of bed early, and some days work doesn’t allow for a birding break, but spring is the time of year to make every moment count.

Here are some other random birding highlights from recent days.

The northern flicker pair I wrote about a few weeks ago successfully dug out the rest of their nest in the snag in my backyard. It took several days of constant work for them, but the other day, I checked on them, and one was inside the hole with only its head sticking out.

During a recent work-from-home day, I glanced out at the birdbath and saw a blue jay on the edge. A moment later, another blue jay landed next to it and fed it a mealworm that it had plucked from my bird feeder. Earlier this spring, I saw a cardinal pair and a house finch pair do the same thing.

My son and I were working on a car in the driveway (actually, he was working on it, and I was watching) when I heard crows cawing and blue jays squawking in the nearby hemlocks. I said, “I bet there’s a hawk or owl in there.” He turned just in time, and we watched a barred owl fly out of the hemlock branches and disappear in the woods. A bit later, we heard its “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all” song over and over.

That’s it for now. Let me know what you’re seeing out there this spring.

A few birds from this weekend

Posted on May 10, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
A veery at Huntington State Park in Redding, CT, May 2026.

Here are a few shots I got this weekend while out and about.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A blue-winged warbler at Huntington State Park in Redding, CT, May 2026.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A black-capped chickadee at Huntington State Park in Redding, CT, May 2026.

For the Birds: Spring birding and reader insights

Posted on May 9, 2026 by Chris Bosak

Photo by Chris Bosak
Blue-gray gnatcatcher at Huntington State Park, Redding, Conn., April 24, 2026.

For many birdwatchers, this is the best time of year. Breeding season has begun in earnest, and the spring migration is in full swing.

Every walk in late April and early to mid-May has the potential to yield something that wasn’t there the day before. The other day, I took a quick walk and spotted my year’s first wood thrush, blue-gray gnatcatcher, blue-winged warbler and black-and-white warbler.

It’s also a busy time for my email inbox, as spring’s increased activity brings many exciting bird observations and raises some questions too.

Nancy from Keene shared that a pileated woodpecker made holes from top to bottom on a snag (dead tree) in her yard. She mentioned that she hears the large woodpeckers every year, but this was the first time she was able to get a video with her phone. Now, the moment has documentation that she can enjoy at any time.

To me, the best part of the story is that Nancy said she had a tree removal service doing some necessary tree work about 15 years ago, and she asked them to leave some snags standing. A decade and a half later, that request paid off big time. I’ve written from time to time over the years about the importance of leaving some dead trees standing as long as they don’t pose a threat to self or property. Snags are a vital resource for woodpeckers and other animals for shelter and food.

Lenny from Greenfield also shared that a pileated woodpecker visited a snag on his farm as well. Lenny also reported that evening grosbeaks visited his yard, and he was surprised one day to find a crow perched on his birdfeeder pole.

Norma from Spofford had a few interesting and somewhat rare sightings at her feeder. She saw an American robin on her deck and figured she would throw a few mealworms out. The robin ate the offerings and visited her feeder to get more mealworms for the next several days. Later, she spotted a northern flicker on her suet feeder. Robins and flickers may not be rare sightings, but they are not commonly seen at feeders.

Lew from Keene had an interesting robin experience of his own when he saw a leucistic robin along the side of a road. Leucism is a loss of pigmentation in feathers or fur, making the animal appear white. It differs from albinism in that albinism is a complete lack of melanin that even affects the eyes. Leucism often makes birds appear patchy, which was the case with Lew’s bird. In my experience anyway, robins and juncos are two of the New England birds most impacted by leucism.

Patti from Westmoreland and Andy from Spofford each wrote in to say they had to stop feeding birds for the spring and summer as bears are now a threat. Andy, however, said he was a day late, as he walked out of his house one morning to find the seed and suet feeders gone and one of the poles bent into a C shape. Andy, who teaches first-graders, used the experience as a teaching moment and brought the pole into school to show how strong bears are. He said some of his students tried to bend the pole back into shape, but none succeeded.

Patti said she lost what had been her best feeder to a bear last year. She wondered if the remaining birdseed from this year will last until winter when she can resume feeding birds. If properly sealed and stored in a cool, dark place, some birdseed can last about a year. Nyjer, or thistle, seed will spoil faster.

In another coincidence, Eric from Surry and Linda from Middletown each wrote in to say they had wood ducks under their bird feeders. Eric thought it was a strange sighting as there aren’t any ponds in his area, but there are a few swampy areas. Linda also sent a photo of a bobcat in her backyard. She has been seeing a bobcat pair in her yard for the past eight years. Now that would be cool.

This is also the time when some birds, such as white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos, that have kept us entertained throughout the long winter become scarce. Amy from Harrisville was recently treated to more than 30 juncos in her yard.

Thanks to those who sent in their sightings. Let me know what you see this spring.