Friday, May 1, 2015

Spring in Windsor


Nothing makes me want to return to this blog and write like the arrival of spring birds (as regular readers will notice from the multiple spring posts...). Birds have been arriving for several weeks now, but my bike ride to school this morning marked my first colorful warbler sighting (a few Louisiana Waterthrush a few weeks ago). I was biking my normal route when I hear a Black-throated Green's distinct zee-zee-zee zoo-zee call. I slammed on my brakes (luckily while cutting through a park and not on the street), pulled out my binoculars, and began looking for him. After some searching, I found two males in the tree, as well as a male Pine Warbler. What an exciting May 1st!

It has taken me a while to feel comfortable just pulling out my binoculars here in the city. I worried people would consider my motives for having binoculars to be suspicious. But when they see me craning my neck looking into trees, I'm sure the reason is apparent. And city birding, while certainly not as nice as in more remote areas, is surprisingly satisfying. I've seen lots of fun birds, and have been watching two breeding pairs from my office (Nesting blog).

The addition of a good camera to my birding adventures has made and will continue to make this spring birding extra fun.

May 1 - Chipping Sparrow
May 1 - Goldfinch
April - Tree Swallow
April - female Red-winged Blackbird
April - House Wren
April - White-throated Sparrow