Fourteen Warbler Species on Our BOS May Count
Published: May 20, 2013
Tags: Life List Happenings, Blackburnian Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Blue-winged Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, BOS, Buffalo Ornithological Society
Yesterday was the May Count for the
Buffalo Ornithological Society (BOS). The BOS encourages its members to participate in the counts and I felt compelled to help out when asked. I was a little hesitant when I found out the start time was 6 AM and it took an hour to get to where we needed to be! I joined Doug Happ, Jim and Karen Landau, and 2 others on the count for Section 18, down in Cattaraugus County. The weather was great and, after a cup of coffee on the way down at 5 AM, I was ready to go by 6!
The day was very full of wonderful bird songs, some of which I think I'll remember. I had two lifers: a Blackburnian Warbler and a Prairie Warbler (we saw 4 each of those!) - and several FOY's. The Prairie Warbler's song was especially cool and I'm sure I'm going to remember that one; it reminded me of a spaceship taking off. I saw all but the Mourning Warbler, which I won't add to my life list, even though I was within just a few feet of it, listening to its song - knowing it was in the bush just in front of me! In addition to these 3, the other warblers we saw included: Tennessee, Magnolia, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Blue-winged, Chestnut-sided, Yellow-rumped, and Yellow.
At one place we stopped, there were 3 male Indigo Buntings all flitting around from tree to tree! And at another, we had the opportunity to stop and enjoy the marvelous and complex song of a Winter Wren. If you've never heard it, you should take a listen here:
Winter Wren Song on Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Whoever would think that 11 hours of work could be so much fun?!