The Birdy Site: Clark Botanic Gardens: Spring Migration

Spring migration! The favorite time of year for many birders! I went today to Clark Botanic Gardens, near my house, to attempt to locate birds on spring migration.

First bird of the day was heard, a Pine Warbler. Gosh, that bird really had plenty to say. On and on it went, singing its rising, trilling song, all day long. However, the bird never showed itself so I could take a picture of it.

As I stood there vainly searching for a Pine Warbler to photograph, a fantastically beautiful bird, a BALTIMORE ORIOLE, flew over my head, landing in a tree. It was a bright adult male in full breeding plumage. Every year these male orioles come a few weeks before the females, in order to get nesting territories straightened out. However, this pair of orioles has nested alone in the garden for many years, so the male oriole just hangs around and sings loudly and acts flashily. Pretty soon, the female will come and then we hope they'll get about nesting.

A Baltimore Oriole has something to say

I then walked down by one of the three ponds at Clark. Looking into the trees, I got the best bird of the day: a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, a bird I'd longed to see. This little guy is a small warbler with black and white streaks, and he hitches up and down the tree like a nuthatch. Some Ruby-crowned Kinglets also bounced around in the trees, my FOS.

Black-and-white Warbler

Walking down to another grove of pines where I'd seen a Blue-headed Vireo the day before, I found it strangely empty. Soon, though, I encountered the reason for the emptiness: A Sharp-shinned Hawk gliding off the trees and hovering into the air, looking for prey. However, it was awfully dark, and I couldn't get a good picture.

It had been good birding, and it was time to finish up. More Black-and-white Warblers acted like nuthatches as they should, and another Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitted around. A Chipping Sparrow sat in a tree.