Accidental Birding

I very much enjoy accidental birding (finding a fund bird when you aren't birding). Finding a fun bird when you aren't looking for it makes the find that much sweeter. Seeing Wild Turkeys or Wood Ducks from the T or the Red-tailed Hawk from your window at work are always quite a treat.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Just this weekend, I was in the yard and heard a soft musical warble similar to a Pine Warbler, except that the warble sometimes changed pitch half way through. I knew it had to be a warbler as I had just heard this song on my bird song CDs.  So I hunted for the singer to find a beautiful Yellow-rumped Warbler. I was even lucky enough to grab a couple of pictures. Keeping the binoculars on the back steps while in the yard certainly paid off. With spring migration in full swing now, you never know when there will be a great bird in the backyard or just outside work. And I think a warbler in the backyard is particularly good, even for accidental birding.

For the start of warbler season I wanted to share links for YouTube videos from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on tips for finding warblers and a warbler ID quiz. They are worth watching just to see great video of these birds and to hear their calls.