Warblers to begin the year...from Florida

Yellow throated Warbler, JN Darling NWR, January 11, 2011
Black and White Warbler, Green Cay Wetlands, January 10, 2011

Yellow rumped Warbler, JN Darling NWR-Bailey Tract, January 13 , 2011

Palm Warbler 'western', Green Cay Wetlands, January 10, 2011

Prairie Warbler, Green Cay Wetlands, January 9, 2011

I just returned from a recent week plus trip to Florida and I started my year list of warblers with some nice sightings. I managed a total of nine species of warblers as I covered the areas around Boynton Beach, Sanibel Island, Orlando and Merritt Island. The species I saw included Orange crowned Warbler, Yellow throated Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Northern Parula, Prairie Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and both 'western' and 'yellow' Palm Warblers. The large numbers of Yellow rumped Warblers in most of the areas covered were quite impressive. Even small areas contained large numbers of birds. Looking forward to seeing them back up around here.

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.

"Audubon" type Yellow-rumped Warbler

"Audubon" type Yellow-Rumped Warbler

I managed to locate another warbler species (Orange-crowned Warbler) for the year during a recent trip out to central and northern Arizona. In addition to the two subspecies of Orange-crowned Warbler I found out there including a bright lutescens I also found several Audubon-type Yellow-rumped Warblers in several habitats including this individual along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. These will likely be the last species and subspecies of warblers I will find this year but you never know.

November warblers

During a morning outing at UMASS I came across at least five Yellow-rumped Warblers despite the frosty temps. This was the only warbler of the day and likely the only warbler for the month now that the temperature have taken a nose dive.

A few warblers left as mid October passes...

I still have a few warbler sightings to report over the last week as October passes the half way mark. The vast majority now are Yellow rumped but there are lesser numbers of others including Palm, Pine, Common Yellowthroat and today, Blackpoll. Soon they will all be gone to points south but I will still try to find them as late as I can in the season around here.

Arcadia meadows warblers

I spent a couple hours before work exploring the area of the Arcadia Meadows starting at dawn. The number of Palm Warblers around today was impressive with a minimum count of 78 with the majority being 'Yellow' Palms. Other warbler species around in good numbers were Yellow rumped. The other species seen included a male Black throated Blue, a Black and White, a Magnolia, a Blackpoll and a few Common Yellowthroats. A total of seven warbler species for the morning was quite respectable starting the second week of October.

October warblers

I made a trip over to Arcadia Meadows starting at dawn and staying for a bit under two hours. The north winds of last night cleared out many warblers but brought in many sparrows. I still managed to find seven warbler species with the following totals seen:

Northern Parula 1
Magnolia Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Palm Warbler 8
Blackpoll Warbler 5
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 13