The time of the warblers arrives

In our part of the world – western Missouri and eastern Kansas – this is the time of the warblers. They begin arriving in early to mid-April. By mid-May, they’re pretty much gone, headed to their nesting grounds in more northern latitudes.

While it lasts, the show can be impressive. These small birds make up in arresting colors what they lack in size. When several species feed together in a single tree, flitting from branch to branch, the effect can be dazzling.

John James Audubon called it a Black-and-white Creeper. We know it as the Black-and-white Warbler. It might not have the bright colors of other warblers, but it’s striking in its own right.

On a single outing in early May, we’ve seen as many as eight or nine warbler species, including American Redstart, Common Yellow-throat, Yellow Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow-breasted Chat and others. A day like that keeps you coming out year after year.

Our 2015 big warbler day will probably be during the second weekend in May. We’ll most likely find our way to the James A. Reed Memorial Wildlife Area, a spot I’ve mentioned several times. We’ve had very good luck there, even picking up Blue-winged Warblers last May.

We need all the warblers and other birds we can mine from the avian riches of spring to build our Big Year list. My wife Fran and I will be at the Lake of the Ozarks over this coming weekend and hope to pick up a few new species. I’ve been researching the best warbler areas near the lake, and it looks promising.

According to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s daily record of rare bird alerts for Missouri and Kansas, there are also quite a few shorebirds and waders passing through. Maybe we’ll get lucky on that score, too. Then again, it could turn out to be a hope-dashing, confidence-crushing, bleak wasteland of a weekend when every bird seems to be making a conscious effort to avoid us.

You never know.