Crazed Bird(ing)
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
We arrived at Finzel Swamp at 5:45 am, as the sun was rising, and proceeded to bird like madmen for the next almost 7 hours, given a guided tour by local birder and biologist David Yeaney.
By the numbers, we tallied 101 species, including 18 species of warbler, 5 vireo species, 7 types of flycatcher and more. For Warren, there were 2 life birds and 7 new ones for his ever-growing Maryland state list.
It was last bit of May madness, to celebrate the end of spring migration, which is trickling to an end along the mid-Atlantic seaboard. Up in the mountains, our neotropical migrants were singing, and some of them appeared to be setting up nests — those that don’t migrate all the way to Canada’s Boreal Forests.
It was a magic day. Aside from the Ruffed Grouse (sorry, Dan), every bird we were looking for announced itself in song virtually the moment we got out of the car. The credit goes to David’s incredible local knowledge. The birds came almost too fast to count: Cerulean Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Bobolink, Henslow’s Sparrow, Golden-Winged Warbler, etc, etc..
And then, as the clock neared 1pm, we headed back through rain and Memorial Day traffic to be with our families and friends at an end-of-spring party/BBQ at the Lovenest. Warren even did the grilling.
