What colour do you like your warblers?
With only a couple of months to go before we go out to The Biggest Week in American Birding (www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com) in Ohio in May, we’ve been drooling over the field guides at the amazing array of warblers we can hope to see there. A real migrant trap as the birds stop and stoke up on fuel before heading further north over the Great Lakes, this place promises a warbler spectacle like no other. Warblers in yellow, black, grey and white such as Magnolia Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, not to mention the possibility of Kirtland’s Warbler, a very special bird and lifer for us both. Add some rufous colour and Bay-breasted and Chestnut-sided Warblers spring to mind. Want more yellow? Then there are the options of Yellow Warbler or the striking Prothonotary Warbler. Prefer blue, and you think of Black-throated Blue and Cerulean Warblers. Add a dash of orange and there are Cape May and Blackburnian Warblers. Blinded by too much colour? They’ve got that covered too, with the Black-and-white Warbler.
Add to the mix waders, wildfowl, raptors and more, and you can understand our excitement. Once the sun’s gone down, we’ll be swapping binoculars for the microphone as we’ll be giving a number of talks on The Biggest Twitch during this 10-day event. Yes, we know it’s called the Biggest WEEK, but there are so many birds to see that a week just isn’t enough!