Warbler Triumph

(May 9th) This morning I again took the drive down to Ohio to check out the warbler migration. I had seen a few in Ann Arbor, so I was optimistic. I can't keep getting skunked every day... Persistance paid off, as did the strategy of becoming part of the environment. It was easily the most amazing warbler day I have ever had. It started off at dawn with some more common birds. Again a lot of Palm Warblers, but I was happy to get some very nice shots as they perched on some sumac.

The sumac turned out to be a hotbed as the morning passed. In the early hours, Yellow-rumped Warblers were almost as prevalent as the Palm Warblers. Again, the two warblers I seem to always see during migration, but a very handsome bird.

There were other birds around besides warblers too. The ground seemed to be covered with Gray Catbirds that were foraging for anything they could find. They hopped and flapped, rarely staying still, but with this many to keep you occupied, getting a picture is just a matter of trying.

Later in the morning, the warblers really picked up. One of my favorites is the Cape May Warbler - gotta love the burgundy cheeks they have. We saw three of these birds in the morning. At one instance two of them were in the same tree. They even came fairly close giving some nice shots of this beautiful bird.

There were many other warbler species (and non-warblers) throughout the morning. I had somewhere around 20 warbler species seen and most of these captured with the camera. If the Cape May was not the highlight, then it would have to go the blazing Blackburnian Warbler. These tiny birds just explode with color and energy. Their head and throat just seems unnaturally bright. All in all, it was wonderful to have seen all the great birds and felt nice to have Magee Marsh finally help us out.