With a tradition of spending time hiking in the late summer and early autumn woods it’s not like we haven’t noticed fall migrating warblers in past years, but this is the first year we’ve made a concerted effort to see just how many we can spot as they move through our area making central Ohio home for just a few days as they head south to distant places in the Caribbean or south America. As always a few eluded the camera lens.

It may have been the Redstarts and Black and White Warblers at our Michigan campsite in late August that got us thinking that maybe it would be worth it to pay closer attention to fall migration this year.

There are several challenges to observing fall warblers; the trees still have most of their leaves providing many hiding places, the birds don’t call, and the male’s colorful breeding plumage is muted, or in some cases doesn’t even resemble that of spring, so identifying birds can be very difficult.

Even though the late summer wildflowers and the hint of red, yellow and gold in the leaves high overhead are beautiful, it’s still a time of year that it feels like nature is closing up shop. As they filter through the trees on their way south the warblers say, “not yet” and wake us to yet more of nature’s wonder.