My ‘Big Day’ gets off to a nice (red)start

I suffer from warbler deprivation syndrome. I head to the woods, hoping to find multiple migrants flitting above me or, even better, right in front of me. I was feeling particularly underserved by the warbler community as I headed to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm early this morning.

While my Merlin app the last couple of weeks has tantilized — taunted? — me with reports of multiple warblers, I’d basically drawn a blank. No Blackburnians, no magnolias, not even a black and white. But today, when I had a limited opportunity to get out on Global Big Day, my luck turned.

An orchard oriole greeted me as I left the parking lot, although I couldn’t find the bird in the big, leafed out tree just off the trail. Same for the yellow warbler lurking just beyond.

But as I made my way down the trail and into the woods, I noticed a small bird in a tree 30 yards or so away. It had its back to me, but my pulse quickened when I saw the orange and black colors — an American redstart, by George! The bird turned about and I snapped a few frames, at least one of which I could tell was reasonably sharp. That image tops this post.

I believe I took a shot of a female redstart in a previous year, but this was, as far as I know, the first male I’d ever shot.

I continued on my favorite loop around the park, with Merlin again teasing me to warblers in my midst. But I wasn’t finding any until I got to the old AT&T Building One oval. I spotted a blue-gray gnatcatcher high up in the wall of trees behind the oval. He was putting on an acrobatic performance, I got several shots, including the right-side-up and upside-down poses below.

My hour-plus ramble had me record 34 species, a nice haul for Global Big Day. They included a Northern parula that was perched only a few feet from the gnatcatcher at one of its brief stops.

I only had the one chance to get out birding, as my wife and I headed into New York City for a 1st birthday celebration for our youngest grandchild. The redstart was great, but the birthday party was the true highlight of the day. 🦅