WARBLERS: A REWARD OF BIRDWATCHING

Blackburnian Warbler - Photo courtesy June Ladner (2016)

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It is early morning. Clouds hang low in the sky. Calm now. The wind that yesterday blew so fiercely from the north has blown itself away.

Come with me. I want to show you something.

There! In the top of that oak, the highest branch to the right, where the leaves meet the sky. A movement. Don’t you see? Look! Where the leaves flutter and end. Don’t look away or you’ll lose it. Keep your eye on the moving leaves and raise your binoculars and wait for the bird to come out into the open.

Now. There he is! That pattern! It’s incredible. No, don’t reach for a field guide. Just watch. See that brilliant orange throat? The juxtaposition of orange and black on the face? The neat black stripes along the white under-sides? The white wingpatch on black wings? The black streaked back?

Watch now. See how busy he is! See how he peers and probes? Explores and devours! His world is in the top of the trees. His life is in the heart of the buds. Gone now, into the densest foliage.

We may not see him again, not now, not today, maybe not again this spring. It may have been the only look that spring allows of a male Blackburnian Warbler.

If I could, I would show the world a Blackburnian Warbler, the fire-brand, the torch-bird, the bird that could move a cynic. The world, and you, dear reader, would understand me better. You would cease to question the dawn risings and find it not in the least masochistic to court stiff necks and thrown-out backs in the cause of warbler watching.

Warblers are tiny, brightly colored and arrestingly patterned. They are primarily insect-eaters. The move about constantly, using a small, needle-pointed bill to ply their trade. Some live in the treetops, some in the lower branches. Some favor the swamps and bottomlands. Some are ground dwellers.

They, or one of them, has been the “turn-on” for legions of birders. At the height of the spring migration, nothing quickens the pulse more delightfully than a mixed flock of foraging warblers. They are difficult to see, but a typical adult male warbler poses no problem in identification.

It takes years to see them all. Even veteran birders who know where, when, and how to look miss some each spring.

Forty warbler species are known to occur in Mississippi. Of them, the orange-crowned, yellow-rumped, and Palm are regularly found as winter residents. The Pine Warbler and the Common Yellowthroat are permanent residents.

The majority of warblers move south in the fall, north in the spring. Some stay in our southern climate to nest but the majority of them are transients, here today and gone tomorrow, and so too, the chances to see them.

With the peak weekend of the spring migration coming up, a highly motivated and tenacious watcher could see a score of the birds which fan the ardent fires of the birder.

A further run-down on the status of our warblers. Along with the two mentioned above, the Prothonotary and Swainson’s warblers, the Northern Parula, the Yellow-throated and Prairie Warblers, the Louisiana Waterthrush, Kentucky Warbler, Yellow breasted Chat, Hooded Warbler and American Redstart all breed on or near the coast.

Of those remaining, one is of extreme rarity (Bachman’s Warbler) and two (Townsend’s and Black-throated Gray Warblers) are only casual western wanderers in fall. Two others, (Connecticut and Mourning Warblers) are very scarce in the state.

What it comes down to is the opportunity to see some of the 35 warbler species including the magnificent Blackburnian, that may be found gleaning through the highest leaves or mincing through last year’s leaves on the forest floor as migration reaches its late April crescendo.

This article was first published in April, 1982

IF YOU'RE SEEKING A SWALLOW, THIS IS THE PERFECT SEASON

                                          

                                          

Here are 2 photos featuring 3 of the swallows mentioned below. See if you can ID them (Answer at end of article)

Photos courtesy Sharon Milligan - Sharon's photos are available at the Pascagoula River Audubon Centre. For previous articles click on the blue title

  With only six members of the swallow family on tap in Mississippi, the learning of them should go down like a spoonful of sugar. But I'm always surprised at the decided lack of interest in these aerodynamic creatures, as evidenced by classes, elderhostels, and various touring birders, from whom swallows get short shrift, if any shrift at all.

   There is no better season than spring for swallow-watching. For one thing, all of the swallows are present, and all of them are in definitive plumages, which takes any guesswork out of the drill.

   Let's review them according to their status in Mississippi, and then we'll do our best to help the reader meet the challenges in identifying them.

   We put the Purple Martin first because it comes first on the local check list. The Purple Martin is a summer resident -- it arrives here from late January onward, and is unlikely to be seen, under routine weather conditions, after early September. As befits a national treasure, it nests in the finest digs that money can buy, but it also uses cracks and crevices in rocks and trees. Two of the most unusual nesting sites I ever found were in a woodpile on the ground, and in a dish-shaped antenna at least 200 feet above eye-level. Martins nest in most of the U.S. and in parts of Canada.

   The Tree Swallow is a winter resident (some Purple Martin fans cannot be persuaded that a January swallow is much more likely to be a Tree Swallow than a season-rushing martin). Tree Swallows are present in winter in huge numbers; they often feed in the air (and over the marshes, and even on wax myrtle berries) in great flocks. The record here is something like half-a-million birds in one location in late December. They occupy the feeding niches left after the other five species of swallows have gone south for the winter and breed colonially throughout North America except in the southernmost tier of states.

   The Northern Rough-winged Swallow is a summer resident, but in rather small numbers. It arrives early to mid-March and is decidedly rare after mid-October. It burrows its nests in dirt banks with steep faces near water and may also use culverts, drainpipes and occasionally a tree cavity. It pairs off in nesting season and becomes social during fall migration, when we see it in the biggest numbers.

   The Bank Swallow is a transient species, migrating through our area in spring and fall. It nests in large colonies, excavating burrows in steep river banks, gravel pits, and highway cuts, from the northern two-thirds of the U.S. north into the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It is fairly common between early April and late May, and again in August and September.

   The Cliff Swallow gets the prize for the broadest distribution. An uncommon (Editor's note 2016 - now locally common) summer resident here, it is found north to Alaska and arctic Canada; it plasters its gourd-shaped mud nests against any vertical surface available -- buildings, bridges, cliffs. We look for it between mid-March and mid-October.

   The Barn Swallow is an abundant summer resident over most of North America, including the Coast where it nests in a bowl-like nest of mud placed against a vertical surface but often needing some slight support from below. It's a fool for barns and outbuildings, but bridges are becoming a very popular alternative. A Barn Swallow before early March or after early November is a rarity.

   One can learn the swallows by the divide and conquer method. The Purple Martin is larger, by more then an inch, than the Tree Swallow -- female and immature martins, with their light undersides, seem to be frequently confused with Tree Swallows. Note that the Tree Swallow is glossy green/blue above, and very white below. No other eastern swallow is as cleanly white below.

   In spring, the Northern Rough-winged and Bank swallows need only be separated from each other. Both are brownish above and white below. However, the Bank Swallow is strictly white below, with a definite breast-band. Note that the Rough-winged, by contrast, could use a soaking in bleach. It is dirty white, and its throat and neck areas look to be in need of scrubbing.

   The Cliff Swallow and the Barn Swallow are more colorful than other eastern swallows. Both have dark bluish-black backs. Note that Barn Swallows range from mostly white to mostly light cinnamon below -- but all have a markedly forked tail. The Cliff Swallow has color confined to the throat and upper breast, a squarish tail and a light rump patch, and is easily separated from the Barn Swallow.

   I have always found the above noted differences to be of greatest help to me in the identification of swallows. There are other differences, in size, flight styles, etc., that become apparent the more one looks at them.

   Getting six species in the same area at the same time is not as difficult as it seems -- you have from now until mid-May. Look for them over water -- quiet ponds, sewage lagoons, lakes, even the Mississippi Sound, and over open fields, especially when there is water nearby.

   One can watch them coming and going, high and low, from above and below. Watch swallows long enough, and with enough attention to the differences mentioned above, and there identification is in the bag. You'll feel better. Trust me.

Birds in photos 1) Cliff swallow 2) Barn swallows and tree swallow. 

Not to muddy the waters, another swallow, the cave swallow, is seen very occasionally in Mississippi (considered rare) but by all means learn this species from your field guide because, in birding.. you never know!

This article was published in April 1994

DIMORPHISM IN BIRDS

                                                 

Female Northern Cardinal

 - Photo courtesy of Sharon Milligan

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Weekend rains and thunderstorms, some of them coming up from the Gulf of Mexico, then followed by a shift of wind direction, from south to north, set the scene early this week for the best migrant-trap birding we've experienced this spring.

Much of it spilled over into our back yards. Those with an eye for birds should have seen a fair share of flaming red Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks with ascots of hot pink and sunny orange Northern Orioles, to name a few of the paint-pot birds for which we yearn and the sight of which brings great joy into our lives.

As much as anyone, I revel in the parade of gloriously decked-out birds.

Perhaps you've noticed that these handsome sports are males of the species and that you hardly ever see their female counterparts, or if you do, you don't recognize them for what they are.

Just about all the males of our neotropical songbird migrants (translate that to mean the vast majority of insect-eating birds that winter in Central and South America) make the trans-Gulf flight in advance of the females, which follow one or two weeks later.

You may have experienced that earlier in spring, when a bunch of Indigo Buntings, all of them bright blue and easy to recognize as males in high breeding plumage, may have grounded in your yard. It is only later on, when they may have been joined by the brownish females and younger splotchy-blue-on-brown males that you might figure out there is a sequence to the migration of any given species: adult males first, then adult females and the not-quite-ready-for-primetime players, young birds hatched last summer.

But who looks at brown birds when the stage is dominated by bright blue ones?

When male birds are disarmingly attractive, and the females drab by comparison, that is a form of sexual dimorphism (two distinct forms, or morphs, of the same species). One of the most familiar examples of sexual dimorphism in plumage occurs in those Northern Cardinals that hang out around the feeder. Males and females are recognizably different from each other. In many other species (Blue Jays, for example) there is nothing in their outward appearances to indicate which is male and which is female.

Plumage differences between the sexes range from minor to major. For instance, the female Prothonotary Warbler is slightly less bright than the male, a difference which is noticeable when they are seen together. Certain other birds -- the Red-bellied Woodpecker, for example -- have more extensive patches of color in their plumage. He has a full satiny-red cap; hers is more of a half-cap. And others are so different that they may go unrecognized as the same species.

One of the most extreme examples of sexual dimorphism occurs in the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, affectionately known among birders as the Rosie Gross. On the one hand we have the male, decked out in jet black and pure white with an incredible ascot of hot pink at his throat, like a gent in formal attire. On the other hand, it is the female who really deserves to be known as Rosie Gross, for she is streaked with brown and white, appearing to be an overgrown sparrow, and she tends to shy away from the spotlight, often hiding behind leaves as if knowing how she would suffer by comparison.

In short, he is highly visible as befits his role as master of his own territory. She is inconspicuous, as befits her role as nest-keeper and general all-around drudge.

If you really want to get to know the females of such sexually dimorphic species, you should know what to look for. For example, everyone -- even those with next to no birding experience -- would recognize an adult male Scarlet Tanager or Northern Oriole on sight. These same people would be likely to ``tune out'' on these birds' female counterparts. The female Scarlet Tanager is yellow and black; the female Northern Oriole is yellow, white and brownish gray.

Notice that in a field guide, if the sexes look essentially alike, the female is not illustrated. When there are recognizable differences, the female is well treated. The printed text is invaluable to those attempting to establish familiarity with an unknown female (no double entendre intended).

The female songbirds that seem to stump most people include the Northern Parula, Black-throated Green, Blackpoll, Black-throated Blue, Cerulean, Cape May, Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, Yellow, Wilson's, Hooded, Nashville, Connecticut and Mourning warblers and the American Redstart and Common Yellowthroat. The foregoing are warblers all.

Also, all members of the blackbird family, including the orioles, Summer and Scarlet tanagers, Dickcissel, Blue, Rose-breasted and Black-headed grosbeaks, Indigo and Painted buntings and the finches, House and Purple, and the American Goldfinch.

Don't you agree that it's time to give the distaff members of the bird community some recognition? That begins by knowing who they are. You have another week or two to get started with identifying migrant females, and the experience will be invaluable when, come autumn, virtually all of this summer's hatch will resemble their female parents. And then the fun and frustration really begin.

This article was published in April 1995

ELUSIVE BACHMAN'S SPARROW

Bachman's Sparrow
Photo Courtesy of Sharon Milligan

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Ned Boyajian has pointed out that the status of this bird is now (other than private land in Hancock County) confined to: DeSoto National Forest and the Crane Refuge in Harrison and Jackson Counties. Worth a trip to these areas to see/hear this species.

Bachman’s Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis) is not one of those gaily feathered birds which hang out near the back door making friends with birdwatchers. This little pinewoods sparrow has humbled many a birder, including this writer. The finely honed and polished skills of the birdseeker are no match for a Bachman’s Sparrow which has no wish to be found – a perogative which it exercises nearly 300 days a year.

Not that this sparrow is rare. It isn’t. Here is south Mississippi it is a year-round resident. If it would only show itself more often, Bachman’s Sparrow would prove to be a fairly common bird in its proper habitat – that being dry, open pine or oak woods with scrubby undercover, which is abundant in all three coastal counties. But woe, the Bachman’s Sparrow is notoriously shy.

Each winter visiting birders escape their cold and birdless climes to pad their lists with southern specialties like the Bachman’s Sparrow. By whatever circuitous route birders use to find a kindred soul who will guide them to this most-wanted species, I have become the inevitable patsy, the one to blame when they leave south Mississippi without their Bachman’s Sparrow. My excuses fall on deaf ears, and the hostiles return north in a seething rage. Small wonder that this little sparrow has become the bane of my existence the root of my frustration, the albatross around my neck.

Bachman’s was known in the earlier Peterson field Guide as the Pinewoods Sparrow. Within the sparrow family, which is generally garbed in woodsy plumages of brown, black, gray and white. Bachman’s is  singularly undistinguished. It sports no whisker marks, no eye stripes, no tail spots, no chest streaks nor any other little clue to its identity. Above, it is streaked a rather sandy, reddish brown; below, it is unstreaked with a buffy breast – not much to go on, to be sure. Sharp observers know that the lack of prominent field marks is perhaps the best field mark of all.

All good birders and inveterate listers must sooner or later face the challenge of Bachman’s Sparrow. It helps to know some basic facts about the challenger. It would rather run than fly. Its tactics for evading the birder hinge upon its earthy coloration and upon the fact that all else being equal, on its home ground. Bachman’s Sparrow is smarter than we are.

Come spring and summer, when the woodland chorus is at its height, be advised that the shy Lothario pours out his ardor from an exposed perch several feet above ground and, in the madness of the moment, may forget to uphold his reputation for shyness.

There are two methods by which an intrepid birder may find a Bachman’s Sparrow. Neither carries any assurance of success and both trust implicitly that fate will smile upon the underdog, in this case, the birder.

Method A is known as the Soggy Boot Method. It works best if at all, during winter after heavy rains. One must take himself and his optimism preferably before breakfast, to the “proper habitat” described above. Begin the search by slogging through the grass and brush where sparrows of assorted species have gathered for breakfast. As they fly up and away in front, if one has done his homework well, Bachman’s Sparrow can be singled out by the process of eliminating several other species. The Soggy Boot Method can be successful in as little as five minutes or in as long as an hour. Victory is dependent upon there being enough water standing underfoot to prohibit the bird from taking their preferred running escape, thus forcing them to move from brush to brush at low heights.

I do not advise Method A except in desperate situations, like Christmas bird counts or being at the 499-bird level and needing a Bachman’s for number-500, but it has worked for me, unfortunately not always on demand.

Method B is less adventuresome, but it is cleaner, dryer and carries less risk of pneumonia. It is called the Open Ears Method. On any spring or summer morning or late afternoon, drive through the open pinewoods and listen.  The song of the Bachman’s Sparrow is a clear liquid whistle, followed by a loose trill or warble. It is often hailed as the sweetest song among sparrows.  (This article was written before the Internet and phone birding “Apps” --Nowadays you can listen to the song Judy describes)

Should you hear it, victory could be only a hundred feet away. Slowly and carefully, follow the song and don’t attempt to get too close. Hopefully, you’ll find your bird camped on the end of a bare branch of pine or nearby brush at a height of about 20 feet. For as long as you are an unobtrusive audience, he’ll sing, and you will know why the Bachman’s Sparrow is worth the challenge.

This article was published in April 1979.

(A reader last week wanted to point out that the increase of bird numbers seen in Mississippi from the 1970s to current day, should in great part be attributed to Judy’s enthusiasm for birds and her influence over others to feel the same.)