Mariton: Wildflowers and Binoculars

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager.  Photos by Carole Mebus.

We took binoculars on the Wildflower Walk on Saturday.  We expected to run into some interesting birds as we walked Mariton’s trails.   As I said at the beginning of the walk, “The wildflowers will wait for us while we watch the birds, but it might not work the other way around.”

This year the birds were pretty patient and we had seen most of the really interesting plants before we were inundated with interesting warblers.  We got into a patch thick with Black and White Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Black-throated Green Warblers.  They were all around us and occasionally at eye level.  It is tough when you are looking at one species and someone is describing something total different a few feet from where you are looking.  The highlight for me was getting a good look at a Blackburnian Warbler.  This orange faced warbler has been a tough one for me.  Usually they come through when the tree leaves are bigger and it is much harder to locate them in the treetops.  Not this year.  Carole had brought her “flower” camera, so she got to enjoy chasing the birds with her binoculars.

One bird that was close enough for Carole’s camera was this Robin with nesting material.  (You can laugh.  We did.)

We even got to see it looking out from its nest.

The Migratory Census this coming Saturday should be wild if the weather cooperates.