Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and my mom wanted to go birding with the whole family. While waiting on my brother, my parents and I checked the woods out back for birds. There were quite a few Nashville (Oreothlypis ruficapilla) and Magnolia warblers (Setophaga magnolia). My brother soon showed up and we sat on the porch together as warblers flitted in the canopy and ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) came fearlessly to the feeder just yards away from us.
We then all headed to the Pheasant Branch Creek Corridor for an evening stroll. Now my brother is not a birder, but he has some good birding skills. He tracked all the chestnut-sided (Setophaga pensylvanica) and magnolia warblers as they darted from tree to tree. He knew where every single bird was, a lot of times before the rest of us had a chance to check them all out. His keen observation for field marks was evident too when he saw a bird for a few seconds and described it perfectly. My dad thought his description sounded like a Canada warbler (Cardellina canadensis)- and it was! I had missed out on them for seven whole years and I was happy to see it. It gave us quite a show too, hopping all around bushes and logs by the creek for several minutes.
Eventually it got too dark to bird. Everything we saw was covered in twilight’s shroud. We drove back to the house, talking about the birds. The day was over but the memories were fresh on our minds. Happy (one day belated) Mother’s Day to all the human moms and bird moms out there.
