Barry -

 

I feel your pain.  I find warblers especially frustrating because size,
plumage variation and viewing distance often make identification difficult.
The relatively brief spring and fall migration windows of viewing
opportunity don't help matters much either.  What's worse is decreasing
warbler populations, which makes it increasingly harder to find these birds
each year.

 

By far the most skillful birders identify the buggers by ear, something that
is not exactly my forte.  Bide your time, be patient, and continue to look
and listen.  I've been birding for a little over 4 years and have seen most
of the eastern warblers.  I'm still desperately seeking Cape May, Mourning &
Kentucky.   Sometimes chance or, as a favorite warbler expert would call it,
the immutable laws of birding play a roll.  During a recent visit to Texas,
I spent a couple of hours birding in a park near the San Antonio airport
where good fortune brought a life Virginia's Warbler into my binocular's
field of view.

 

Tom Marko

Olney, MD

Montgomery Bird Club

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Barry Marsh wrote:

 

Comparing my Life List with all the recent posts, I'm reminded of just how
few Warbler species I've seen.  Ok, make that "...just how few Warbler
species I can identify - even though I'm sure I've seen lots of the little
buggers."