Today, May 10, 2011, was a wonderful day to be out on the trail hoping for glimpses of the amazingly lovely warblers, many of which migrate through Michigan this time of year. Some stay and nest and some continue north. The first two weeks in May are the best time to see them as they are preparing for breeding and nesting and are in glorious adult plumage and are actively on the move. They are all colors and combination of colors: chestnut, yellow, blue, blue-gray, black, red, orange, olive, rust...A casual walker / hiker would probably not notice them, but once seen, they truly are unforgettable. They are jewels moving in the trees.
Perhaps the movie, The Big Year, starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Angelica Huston, and opening in theaters on October 14 of this year will introduce and explain the world of birding to those who are puzzled or bemused by birdwatchers.
This morning, the first birds I saw were a mother wood duck with six ducklings paddling behind her. A few days ago, Canada geese families with their goslings were all over the trail, and at one point, a male came hissing at me rather than let me walk on by his kids. I retreated and let them have the high ground. All the parents stood guard lifting and lowering their heads and necks with open silent mouths, while the yellowish, fluffy young stumbled here and there, bumped into weeds, wandered off, generally clueless.
Warblers flit mostly...rather oblivious of humans with binoculars. But they often flit for minutes or hours in one area, so the trick is to be adept with binoculars. It really isn't that hard with a bit of practice. Often warblers are in the treetops but today on the Stu Visser Trail (aka Pine Creek Trail), they moved about mostly lower and were easily seen, especially on the bridge over the rapids. This phenomenon is called a fall-out and is probably due to weather conditions. Today was a warm but overcast day. Warblers migrate at night and many that were seen probably arrived fairly recently. One never knows for sure what the day will bring, but a fall-out like today is mesmerizing. I saw:
1. Blackburnian.
2. Magnolia.
3. Yellow-winged.
4. American Redstart.
5. Yellow.
6. Common yellowthroat.
7. Chestnut-sided.
8. Bay-breasted.
9. Wilson's.
10. Palm.
11. Black and white.
12. Myrtle.
13. One of the Waterthrushes. (There are both the Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush possible here in Michigan, and they are similar and hard to separate unless one has good looks at them, but this bird moves unobtrusively in the mud of creek banks and wet spots and is often difficult to see well.)
Yesterday I saw:
12. Blue-winged.
13. Northern Parula.
14. Myrtle.
15. Nashville.
16. Cape May.
A few weeks ago I saw the quite uncommon (for Ottawa County):
17. Cerulean.
And on my birthday, May 11, I saw:
18. Canada.
19. Mourning.
20. Black-throated Blue. This is a lovely bird, dark blue, black and white and I got good looks at it mid way on the east side of the SVT. It was crubbing about at low level, often relatively in the open. In fact, most of the warblers I saw this wonderful spring were not in the canopy and were quite easily seen. Twenty warblers!
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