Spring Warblers and More – May 9
The Spring Warblers are passing through our area on their migration north. During this time, us birders get what we call ‘warbler neck’! 😜
Our Maryland county bird clubs participate in Spring and Fall counts every year for eBird during migration periods at established areas.
May 9 was Dorchester County’s bird count; Cristina and I birded four hours in the Chesapeake Forest Lands North Tara Rd, Federalsburg. We confirmed 42 species in the deep forest.
Lots of beauties! First the warblers…..
Worm-eating Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Prairie Warbler – See my wing!
Louisiana Waterthrush
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Pine Warbler
And the others…..
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-breasted Chat
White-eyed Vireo
American Goldfinch (female)
These captured and the others must have wondered, what are these two female creatures walking our forest?!!
Next up, a pair of Prothonotarys…
Bay Photos by Donna 
What a great collection of warbler photos! Thanks for sharing. I know (at least for me) that they’re not always easy to spot.
Thank you, Nes! They are hard to spot, I rely heavily on movement to find them flitting quickly and then try to stay with them. They love making our necks sore! 😉
That’s wonderful birding news! lovely birds and pictures!!
Thank you, Indira!
Amazing! That black and white warbler has some tree climbing style. Another lovely group, Donna.
Thank you, Sandy! I love those upside birdies, quite the acrobats!
I am impressed. 42 species in 4 hours seems like quite an accomplishment. 👏
Thank you, Pepper! With migration in full swing here, it’s easier to get a high count! 😉
Hi Donna:Wonderful collecti
Thank you, Jovial!
Forty-two species– well done! 👍🏼 👏🏼
Thank you, Eliza!
Superb photos Donna
Thank you, Sheree!
Wow! What a wonderful collection, Donna. Congrats on the count.
Thank you, Egidio!
They are all beautiful, but the indigo one is gorgeous! 🐦⬛
Thank you, Aura! That indigo blue is quite enchanting!!
The way that little American Finch is sitting! So lovely.
Gwen.
Thank you, Gwen!
Wow what an amazing showcase of small birds Donna, loved it ! You have some lovely avian wonders, that bunting is such a beautiful blue ! It must be wonderful time being Spring there as birds return and pass via the flyways. It is the opposite here much quieter bird-wise as they migrate back and many territorials’ go through non breeding stages.
Thank you, Ashley, I love the Spring migration that zips through! The warblers are in their colorful breeding plumage and their songs so sweet. Have you heard of Cornell Labs birdcast.org, this site gives us real-time info on where the big surges are across the entire U.S. I check it every night during this time to see what’s forecast for my region, and it’s spot-on accurate. A better link to show you is their forecast maps https://birdcast.org/migration-tools/migration-forecast-maps/ to make it easier for you to go to that page. We can actually put in our county/state and it’ll tell us what we should be seeing as the different species surge.
Like you, for me the Fall migration is more tougher with the lack of their breeding plumage; and then there are all those juveniles, it can be harder to distinguish their species ID, “what was that” becomes an often thought lol!
What a nice collection of beautiful birds Donna – they are so small, no wonder you get “warbler neck” craning your neck to see these birds between the leaves.
Thank you, Linda! The migration is quickly winding down, they blasted through for about 1 1/2 weeks. Those warblers especially love the tops of trees, and yep, I still have a sore neck! 😂 I’ve been out every morning.😉 Migrations through your region are truly amazing, we get nothing like yours, I check birdcast.org every night to see what’s going on and just oogle.
I think the birds migrating from warmer climes are grateful we finally got warmer (too warm actually – 90 today) because we have been in the 40s overnight the last week or so.
We’ve had the exact temps, we had 91 today, ugh. I birded my backyard from 6:45am-7:50am this morning and gave up, I was sweating already!
I hate this heat and humidity Donna – we have had two days of severe storms from this hot weather. Just before our severe weather today it was a real feel of 95. We have a cold front coming overnight and it’s getting down to the 40s again – yay!
Yay! We’re getting the storms tomorrow night, then 60 for the high on Thursday. It’ll feel like winter’s coming, ha!
Donna, you and I are on the same wavelength here – no heatwave please. I’m going to enjoy the next two days even if grocery shopping is on the agenda.
So many amazing birds, Donna! Enjoy, and useful some ice packs later. 😉
Thank you, Terri, we worked hard for them! 😉 And yes, those ice packs and Tylenol are needed later!
Fantastic collection and the Indigo Bunting….out of this world. 🤩
Thank you, Michael, I just love the Indigos too, that blue, wow!! 🤩
You’re most welcome. The blues in nature are so incredible.
A few here I’ve never seen, great post !
Thank you, Ted!
Donna. Such patience you have. This took a lot of it, to watch and record and photograph these birds. But we are blessed, when you share them with us.
Thank you, Sue, I love sharing God’s little tree gems! And thank goodness Cristina was keeping the tally, it was a great team effort between the two of us, we wanted to get as many photos as possible to turn in too. 😉
Well, you ladies are an awesome birding team.
Wow, Donna, that’s quite a collection of little guys. Impressive and beautiful. Our bird feeder outside our window is getting quite a collection, but nothing like this.
Thank you, Curt! It was a prime migration weekend for our region, so the bird count was THE perfect weekend. We’re dwindling down now, my feeders are now all summer commons. Those grackles!! Ugh! Enjoy your feeder birdies!
We don’t have grackles down here, at least that I’ve seen. I’ve spent a fair amount of time watching them in the Southwest, however. They can be noisy. Like jays. I like the way they use their tails for navigation and their mating rituals can be fun to watch.
Hooray for spring!
Hip Hip Hooray!!! 🥳
Such beautifully sharp photos, Donna 👏😊
Thank you, Belinda!
What a great Spring collection!
I got warbler neck just scrolling up and down repeatedly. Although, I think including a Chat and a Hummer is just showing off.
(Yeah, I’m just jealous.)
Thank you, Wally! Oops, sorry, I forgot to put up a warning on getting possible warbler neck at the beginning! It’s been an amazing three weeks, I’m backed up on photos, whew!
Really beautiful photos, Donna! I’m always so impressed that you are able to capture these active little birds with such clear, sharp images. It fascinates me that most of these warblers that you’re seeing now were wintering with us here in South Florida not long ago.
Thank you, Carol! They are a challenge, I just try to stay with one and click away, hoping for just one shot. And thank goodness I don’t have to worry about gators at my feet while looking up lol! Their migration is amazing, I’m seeing the end of the flow now.