Spring Arrives in Yellow

It doesn’t much feel like spring around here these days. I know folks in parts north would scoff at my perception of “early spring weather”, but this week, following the passage of a wet weather system, this cooled down a bit. The birds are still here mind you, but I suspect they’re dealing with climatic conditions they didn’t necessarily bargain for. At least, I sure didn’t. I’m usually in shorts by now, and searching for new neotrops in weather not much higher than freezing was not something I’ve had a lot of experience with. While I can weather the cold as well as anybody, I don’t seek it out (unless there’s some sort of bird blogger convention waiting for me).

But the birds were undoubtedly there. By this time last year I’d managed to find a handful of early warblers, there’s no reason why I couldn’t again. And there was one in particular I had a hankering for, so I went out to Eno River State Park, north of Durham, where they’re a sure thing.

See, there’s the field there, which if it were any bigger than a half dozen acres could conceivably called a savanna. It’s dotted sporadically with Eastern Red Cedars of various shapes and sizes and in the high summer is home to those species like Indigo Buntings and Chipping Sparrows and Yellow-breasted Chats, the kind of birds that prefer mostly open spaces interspersed with dense prickly thickets.

But I wanted to see, and attempt to photograph, one of the first spring arrivals to this little specific micro-habitat. One of my favorite warblers, the Prairie Warbler. And as soon as I stepped out my car I heard one buzzing away in the mid-distance, so I packed up and headed out.

I found it soon enough, but getting a photo was a different story. After half an hour of following the hyperactive little bird around while it taunted me with it’s escalator song, losing it in cedars, trying to center it in my scope and trying to get a recognizable shot with my poor man’s digiscoping rig which entails holding my camera right up to the scope (which, it should be mentioned, takes approximately the same amount of time to get set up as a Prairie Warbler spends in any one location), I got to the point where I began thinking that JJ Audubon had the right idea. I’m not advocating shooting and posing birds, I’m just saying that guy had some pretty pictures, no?

Anyway, here are the fruits of my labors. Terrible photos of a sharp little bird.

Warblers were in the air. In addition to the yellow Prairies I heard Blue-winged, Hooded, Yellow-throated, Yellow, and Pine, a smorgasbord of early spring migrants in yellow. A Hermit Thrush was singing nearby as well, a real treat as it’s a sound I don’t hear often at all.

I had plans to explore the riverside for returning Louisiana Waterthrush, but the rain began to fall and the prospect of walking a trail while soaked and cold was daunting. They’ll have to wait until next time. The birds are here though. Things are getting good.