Warbler Mania

Warblers are a strange lot. Moving around as if they had drank massive quanities of coffee, darting about feeding on the insects that they crave, they must burn a lot of energy. They will also fly within inches of where you stand if you are still enough.

My wife and I had a wonderful morning of Warbler watching along First Avenue in Biddeford Pool Saturday morning. Hundreds of Warblers flitted about the narrow treeline along Great Pond. Some of the Warbler species seen:

• Yellow-Rumped
• Golden-Winged
• Nashville
• Golden-Crowned Kinglet
• Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
• Blue-Headed Vireo

Some were cooperative when it came time to snap a photo, others were not. The Ruby-Crowned Kinglets were the most photogenic bird, sometimes coming so close that my camera could not gain a focus on them. The Nashville and Golden-Winged Warblers allowed a good look or two through the binoculars, but just would not cooperate when the time came for a photo.

While watching the Warblers for over a hour and a half, flocks of Double-Crested Cormorant flew overhead along with a pair of Great Blue Herons. A lone Kingfisher chattered while in flight over Great Pond on several occassions, eventually landing in a snag near the Spiritual Center.

While leaving the area to head back home, we watched several White-Throated Sparrows enjoy some grit from a driveway near Bay Street.

Later in the day, we were treated with great views of a Black-Crowned Night Heron in a pond on West Street in Biddeford. Several Snowy and Great Egrets were feeding in the pannes on Granite Point, along with 10 Savannah Sparrows feeding along the high tide line on Curtis Cove. Also on Curtis Cove, I watched and photographed a pair of Killdeer mating.

I received an email from fellow birder Bob Malbon which contained a beautiful picture of a Palm Warbler taken in Biddeford Pool Saturday morning. I will post a link here to it when he uploads it to his site.

Enjoy the photos below by simply clicking a thumbnail for a larger view. Comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated.

Happy birding!

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