End of year wrap up

Prothonotary Warbler, Magee Marsh, Oh, May 14, 2010
Prothonotary Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH, May 14, 2010
Yellow Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH, May 14, 2010

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH, May 14, 2010

Bay breasted Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH, May 14, 2010
American Redstart at nest, Prescott Peninsula-Quabbin, MA June 7, 2010
American Redstart building nest, Prescott Peninsula-Quabbin, MA, May 16, 2010
Painted Redstart, Madera Canyon, AZ, April 1, 2010
Rufous-capped Warbler, Florida Canyon, AZ, March 31, 2010

As the year comes to and end and all the warbler have left for points south I will take the time to review some of my warbler sightings over the past year. First a review by the numbers. I managed to see a total of 39 species of wood warbler this year and added a total of three new species to my life list including Rufous-capped Warbler, Olive Warbler and Lucy's Warbler. All of these were added during a late March/early April trip to Arizona. I found a total of 30 species here in Massachusetts and a total of 20 species at home. The best addition to my house list was a Kentucky Warbler found in a mixed species flock in May. There were many other highlights throughout the year including the wide variety of species seen and photographed during a May trip out to Ohio, finding many nesting species during the fourth year of the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas, finally photographing a Connecticut Warbler, and spending hundreds and hundreds of hours outside listening to the songs of all these warbler species.

What will next year bring? Who knows but I cannot wait to find out.