Wave Maker: Avian Invasion

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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Avian Invasion

It's as though a big flying bus paused over my home at 5:00 a.m. and dumped off half the world of warblers. This happens sometimes when there has been a significant weather system (like the Nor'easter we just finished over the weekend). It seems the birds, probably on their way up the east coast, somewhere around the Carolinas or Virginia, wait out the bad weather, and when the coast is clear, get up into the jetstream and follow the clearing front.

I went outside at 5:45 and circled my property for several hours, pausing only for coffee and a few breaks for my neck (try holding binoculars up to your eyes for an extended period). So here's what we have coming below: The Parula (for real this time), the Black & White, the Black-throated Green, the Black-throated Blue, the Magnolia and the Nashville. Bear in mind that these birds are all sharing the same groups of trees, flitting from branch to branch, picking the bugs and/or seeds off of the newly-sprouting leaves of the deciduous trees. This morning, many of them were eating silently, so even if I could not hear anything, if I trained my eyes on the crown of a tree, I could see the movement, and only when I found the bird and trained the glasses could I tell what it was.

Click on the link for the calls.

Posted by: Wave Maker / 11:20 AM/ |