3/20/2022
I made it out for some birding on Sunday. The weather was chilly first thing in the morning, but it was clear and sunny. It is the beginning of the season for our earliest migrant warblers in the state. Pine Warbler! I do realize that Yellow-rumped Warbler are being seen in the state, too, but a few of those overwinter here. We even saw one on Sunday.
Our sole target for the day was Pine Warbler. So beautiful in Spring. Very drab in Fall. We started out in Brown Co. down on Tower Ridge Rd. Lots of Pine Warbler there. Very high up. Not photographable. I usually like to head all the way down to the tower but skipped this time. From there, we headed up to Paynetown. Surprisingly, we had none, there. From there, we headed to Yellowwood.
We have always had mixed luck in Yellowwood. This time was not much different. Again, we had a good number of Pine Warbler, there. Again, they were all too high. We doubled back to check another area with some pines, but there were people there with two very large dogs. I skipped there and pulled into the next campground to chat with Jeff and call it a day. (We were driving separately.) As we were standing around and bemoaning our luck a bit, I suddenly heard a Pine Warbler sing. Not far away, a male and a female Pine Warbler we feeding low, and the male was singing on occasion.
While here, we had a lot of Red-headed Woodpecker, and I also saw my first Eastern Phoebe of the year. Not a bad way to start the first day of Spring.
Thanks for reading,
Mike