Spring Warbler Migration

 The winter this year has been long and daunting, especially compared with the extremely mild winter that we had last year. While things have begun to melt there is still a good amount of snow. In fact it was snowing again yesterday, although the rain today has melted most of the new snow. It will take probably another month before the lakes are free of the ice. This is not such a good thing if you are like me and half of what you photograph are insects. Last year at this time I was already out photographing flowers, butterflies and other bugs. This year it looks like at least a couple more weeks to a month before we start to see any insect life.

One thing that I am looking forward to this year is the warbler migration. Warblers usually migrate through here on the way to their northern breeding grounds beginning in May. Last year the trees were beginning to leaf out around the beginning of April so by the time the warblers came through the trees were full of leaves making it difficult to see the warblers, let alone get a decent pic. They also did not hang out long last year since the trees up north had already bloomed and they were full of bugs to eat. The winter of 2011 was similar to the one that we are having now. It held on and the trees did not begin to leaf out until May. There was a good week where I was able to go out every day and spot 15 to 20 different species of warblers, like the blackburnian and chestnut-sided warblers above. I am hoping that this spring will be similar. That will make the long wait worth it.