On May 7, five birders joined field trip leader Scott Enochs at 7:30 am at the Bryant Creek Shelter in Morgan-Monroe State Forest for a morning of birding. After brief introductions we began listening and looking for a Worm-eating Warbler, our target bird. Scott had seen one near the shelter the previous week while scouting for the field trip. The Worm-eating Warbler quickly came into close view and remained for a couple of minutes ensuring everyone got great looks. With the target bird behind us, we got into our cars and caravanned slowly down the road, windows open, listening for the sounds of other bird species, stopping often when a bird of interest was heard.
We continued this similar approach for two more hours accumulating a list of 36 bird species seen or heard including Hooded Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, and Kentucky Warbler. In all, it was a great morning of birding which we can attribute to Scott’s planning, preparation, and leadership.
Worm-eating Warbler photo courtesy of Chuck Anderson.