Friday, December 31, 2010

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.

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