Warblers, Warblers, Everywhere There Are Warblers (part 3 of BWIAB)

Warblers are the headliners of American bird migration. Even though many species of birds migrate through in the spring and fall, it is the warblers that get the press and the glamour shots. This post will focus on the warblers we saw during The Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB) festival. A later post will highlight some of the non-warblers that deserve attention too. Be sure to read about my experiences with tours and overall impressions of the festival too. 

There is a lot to talk about here as warblers are one of the largest families of birds that migrate through the eastern US. The festival checklist lists 37 potential warblers for the area. 

Our most frequently seen was the Northern yellow warbler. It is probably seen so often since they breed in the area instead of just passing through. These bright, all yellow birds with a bit of red streaking on the front are always a joy to see.

Yellow warbler high in a tree 

Tours of The Biggest Week

This is part 2 of a planned multi-part series about our trip to Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding. Part 1 talked about some general impressions and highlights. Today, I will share our experiences from the guided tours we took. 

We took advantage of a few types of guided tours. For some, you meet the guides at the location. Tours are generally 20 people plus two guides and last a couple of hours. We also took a couple of bus tours where you meet at the festival headquarters and they provide transportation. This is limited to about 10 people plus two guides and last half or the full day. These are typically further away and might include multiple stops. We chose two of each, and a night walk, although as I said in the previous post, we could have been just as happy with less scheduled time. 

Bird Photos [short]

 As I'm refocusing on this blog and my nature photography I will be doing bi-weekly posts here along with occasional short posts for special events or occurrences. On the off weeks, I will be adding more photographs to my Flickr feed. To help start things off, here are a few bird photographs from this year that I just uploaded. Check the feed for more. Enjoy, and be sure to return next week for the next installment from the Biggest Week In American Birding.

Pair of hooded mergansers on a local pond

Of course I include a great blue heron

Black skimmers returning to settle on the beach

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