Here are a few warbler photos I took earlier this month and never got around to posting, until now. The photos don’t do it justice, but the blackburnian warbler is one of the more strikingly colored birds that pass through New England. The warbler migration is winding down, but the ones that nest in our region will keep us busy and occupied for the next few months.
It was one of the better spring migrations I’ve had in a long time. I got out there more than in previous years and visited a greater variety of places.
The big week, of course, was the visit to Erie, Pennsylvania, during the peak of the migration season. I was there for my niece’s wedding but arrived several days in advance of the event to stay with my brother and visit Presque Isle State Park, a birding hot spot. We saw over 70 species of birds over the three separate visits.
I also hit my local New England spots several times a week during migration, starting in late March and going into June. It’s always interesting to see how the spring migration starts with a trickle of very few species and peaks with several dozen species all moving through at once.
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A Day on Merganser Lake
Warbler season was on full display over the weekend. One of my favorite warblers is the chestnut-sided warbler. I like the color scheme and anything with the color chestnut has got to be cool. This guy was lurking among the bushes as I was trying to find a different warbler. I’m glad he made himself known.
(Repeat text for context: I’m running out of COVID-19 lockdown themes so from now until things get back to some semblance of normalcy, I will simply post my best photo from the previous day. You could say it fits because of its uncertainty and challenge. I’ll call the series “A Day on Merganser Lake,” even though that’s not the real name of the lake I live near in southwestern Connecticut, it’s just a nod to my favorite duck family.)
I found this guy flitting among the low branches in the woods near my son Andrew’s school lacrosse field last weekend. I had an hour to kill before the game started and, of course, took a little walk in the woods. Towhees and ovenbirds provided the musical backdrop when this guy appeared right in front of me. The chestnut-sided warbler has always been one of my favorites ever since I saw my first one more than 20 years ago in Keene, N.H.
Chestnut-sided warblers breed throughout New England and nearby Canada. They winter in mixed flocks in Central America.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A chestnut-sided warbler sings from a lower perch in Ridgefield, Conn., during the spring of 2017.
We are heading to a point on the calendar where the spring warbler migration should be hitting its peak before trickling off as we head into the later weeks of May. The weather has been so cool and wet that many birders are wondering where the early part of the spring migration went.
I am included in that group as, between coaching youth baseball teams and having rain put a damper on birdwalks, my spring migration season has barely started .. and it’s already mid-May.
I did have a good walk recently with sightings of chestnut-sided warblers, blue-winged warblers, ovenbirds, wood thrushes, eastern towhees, and — to top it off — a male scarlet tanager. I also hear barred owls calling in the distance.
How is your spring migration season going? Let me know what you’re seeing out there.
Photo by Chris Bosak
An American redstart sings from a perch in New England in spring 2017.
It’s warbler season (despite the below-normal New England temperatures) so I may as well post a few photos of these little birds …
Hopefully there will be more to come.
Photo by Chris BosakA chestnut-sided warbler sings from a perch in New England in the spring of 2017.
Birds of New England.com 