WARBLERS – WOW!

Some of you might know that warblers are not my favorite type of birding. I know this is sacrilege, everyone loves the warblers! The truth is I struggle with them, but once I get into it I find it very enjoyable. There was a lot of bird movement in the past two days and I got out looking mainly for warblers on both days. On Friday evening I made it out to Pochuk Mountain State Forest, a new spot for me – thanks to Rob Stone for the heads up. It was a gray, misty evening and between the poor light and the birds being up very high, I struggled. In the end I was pretty happy to have seen and identified 10 species of warbler, though most of my identifying came after the fact, looking through bird guides and my photos from the day.

Ovenbird
Worm-eating Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
Black-throated Green Warbler

Then, early this morning I met Karen Miller out at the Bashakill State Wildlife Management Area. We knew that the Stop Sign Trail and the Orchard would be packed with birders (It was! When I passed by, I saw busloads of birders! No joke!). So, we decided to bird the Nature Trail and what a great decision that was – the place was LOADED with birds and we had it basically all to ourselves. We ran into 4 other birders while we were out there, all folks we knew. In addition to being extremely birdy, the nature trail lends itself to better photos because there seems to be more light available and fewer obstacles to shoot through. It was a tremendous morning of birding with birds at every turn, really it was incredible. The highlight for me was seeing 3 WILSON’S WARBLERS. Here’s my list of warblers from the morning:

Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler