May 14, 2016 — Tinicum, PA
I am a very amateur birdwatcher. I don’t keep a life list. I don’t carry a field guide everywhere I go. I used to practically never carry a pair of field glasses or camera when taking walks. The general run during my life regarding birds has been maintaining a bird feeder when practical and knowing how to identify most of the “basic” birds one sees, Coopers hawks included.
However, birding does run in the family to some degree since I have helped my brother with Christmas bird counts a few times. The book shelf has a Peterson’s _A Field Guide to Birds_ on it. When going places I look to see what birds are about. (More so than plants and insects, though I have been paying more attention recently along those lines.)
Which leads me to the subject of warblers.
The Wikipedia entry on “Warblers” covers the basics pretty well in the first paragraph:
There are a number of Passeriformes (perching birds) called warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous.
They are mostly brownish or dull greenish in color. They tend to be more easily heard than seen. Identification can be difficult and may be made on the basis of song alone. To English-speaking Europeans, warblers are the archetypal "LBJs" (little brown jobs).
Small, fast moving, birds that tend to stay in undergrowth or up in the tree canopy. Which complicates seeing and identifying them. (Much less easily photographing them.) Sounds about as interesting as looking for and identifying sparrows and finches. However, to an outsider like me, the warbler comes across to me as a sort of Holy Grail of birding. People, seemingly a *lot* of people, are semi-obsessed with seeing as many different kinds of warblers as possible. And thus I see people hauling tripods and large camera rigs into the woods, or in my case, the John Heinz NWR at Tinicum.
So, why the monstrous interest in the warbler?
For the most part I am addressing the migratory New World warblers.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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- In most of the eastern United States the warbler is migratory. They winter in Central and South America and then come north to breed during the summer. So they will arrive during the spring or early summer and then depart in the autumn. (Which makes sense given their insect diet.)
- Since they are migrating in the male warbler needs to re-establish territory and find mates on an annual basis. Which leads to many male warblers having very colorful breeding plumage. Which makes them not your usual “little brown jobs” — though females are generally plainer. A bit more interesting than trying to differentiate between different kinds of sparrow, and the photographs are probably more interesting too. (see below)
- Warbler finding and identifying is challenging — but also not too onerous to do. The equipment requirements are minimal. There are lots of areas to do it in, though some places and times* are obviously better than others. And there is a community of warbler watchers you can interact with, including comparing lists.
- Warbler-watching can even be a paying job! If you Google “Cerulean Warbler Field Technician” you can find references for seasonal work studying warblers.
- You can find specific pieces of warbler-related humor as well. “Warbler Neck”, the “Silhouette Warbler”, etc.
* — For example the Kirtland's Warbler winters in the Bahamas and breeds in the summer in a relatively limited area in northern Michigan due to requiring areas of jack pine in a certain age range. So outside of those areas you would only see a Kirtland’s when it is in transit between the two places.
And there are specific events in various places centered around watching warblers when they arrive on their annual migration. One example is Warblerstock, which uses the motto “peace, love, birds”.
My most recent encounter with the world of warbling was a walk in the woods at the John Heinz NWR. I had gone there for a walk around the impoundment pond and through the woods as well on a sunny Saturday morning. The NWR was busy that day, with the parking lot overflowing already by late morning. People fishing in the creek, walking dogs, just walking or bicycling, and also people birdwatching.
The secondary trails in the woods were relatively empty. Lots of small bird activity and song, but mainly in the canopy and undergrowth where the birds are hard to see or identify. With the notable exception today of the Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). They were literally everywhere.
(A quick aside on my attempts to photograph catbirds in the past year or two. I usually encounter one or two on a walk — and they are skittish, stay in the undergrowth, and essentially avoid getting photographed clearly. My last clear photograph of one was last year in the middle of Washington, DC when one sat on a park bench next to me and complained constantly. Which was due to some workers nearby banding its chicks.)
In this case there were 1-3 catbirds around me constantly for most of my walk. Mainly hunting for insects or other food, but also some territorial squabbling as well.
Back to the warblers…
I came around a bend on the trail and saw a knot (5-6) of people on near the trail ahead of me. This usually indicates something of interest; “nature accident”, something eating something else, etc. Since there were cameras and binoculars out I figured birds were involved. So I came up the trail to see what it was.
An older wild cherry tree had broken off and fallen over leaving a 5’ tall trunk some time in the past. And today the carpenter ants that had colonized the trunk were initiating a nuptial flight of winged ants. (Queens and drones with wings leaving the nest to mate and start new colonies — they do this in large numbers and at the same time as other nests.**) The resultant glut of prey had drawn the local warbler population in to feast. Which in turn had attracted the local warbler watchers.
** — The ants were following a survival strategy called predator satiation. Essentially flooding out enough winged ants that the insectivores couldn’t catch and eat them all.
One person there had counted ten different warbler species in a matter of minutes. However, I was only able to photograph a few for this bucket. Enjoy.
Besides warblers the walk turned up some other nature photography of interest.
The bald eagles are nesting this year in a large tree near the woods. A few men had spotter scopes on tripods and were letting passers-by look at the nest from across the pond. A hat-tip to them for offering the opportunity.
And while out on the platform in the marsh (low tide, so the birds weren’t fishing) one of the adult eagles did come circling down over the marsh at relatively low altitude.
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