May 11 2010
Swainson’s Warbler: King of the Rhodos
One of the highlights of my year is guiding at the New River Birding & Nature Festival near Fayetteville in southern West Virgina. I love the mountains there, the forests, the birds, the wildflowers, the camaraderie, the opportunities for learning and discovery. The people who organize it, those who work it, and those who attend it are just wonderful and include a large number number of dear friends.
This year’s event, for me, was the best ever, largely due to Liz’s being able to attend after an eleventh hour cancellation by a group at her work. She and I wound up spending a couple of days after the festival birding, photographing, relaxing, adventuring, and just generally having a ball.
Topping the list of great moments was the audience I was granted with a Swainson’s Warbler the Monday after the festival concluded. I went out prospecting for this famously hard-to-see species on a dreary morning with intermittent rain. Along a secondary road near Babcock State Park I found a patch of rhododendron where at least two Swainson’s were singing strongly. One of those was uncooperative, but the second provided me with one of the more thrilling avian encounters I’ve ever had.
In most of its breeding range, Swainson’s Warbler is a bird of wet woods, canebrakes, swamps, and river bottoms. But in the southern Appalachians, there is a population of Swainson’s that is closely tied to rhododendron thickets. Rhododendrons, for most, conjure up images of horticultural beauty and gentility, as their flowers are familiar garden centerpieces.
This, I believe (and by all means, please correct my botany if it’s wrong, as it frequently is), is Rhododendron catawbiense an early-blooming relative of Rhododendron maximum, the West Virginia state flower. R. maximum cloaks the rocky banks of creeks with a dense blanket of dark green.
It’s pretty, certainly, but it is also thick.
So thick in fact, that it has a gloomy, almost foreboding aspect at times. I’m sure one would quickly learn to dread rhododendrons, were one to have to traverse or clear any significant amount of them.
No wonder Swainson’s Warblers and humans rarely meet.
Though my meeting with this bird lasted only a few minutes, time seemed to slow and stretch. I’ve seen the species a generous handful of times, but I have never seen it so well. I was struck by its subtle color and the way its railroad spike of a bill blended with its flat crown to give it an anvil-headed look. I marveled at its long pink toes, its big black eyes, and of course, by its ringing, rolling, liquid voice.
That voice, and this bird, are in many ways, a personification (birdification?) of the rhododendrons. Superbly adapted to the niche these shrubs provide, the warbler is as at home here as a clownfish in a coral reef, a giraffe in an acacia thicket, or a flea on the back of a dog. The key, apparently, is a tangled understory but a relatively open forest floor, where these warblers spend most of their time foraging with a unique, shuffling gate.
Once the breeding season is over, Swainson’s Warblers take up residence in similarly dense understory in forests of the West Indies and nearby portions of the Yucatán and Honduras. They especially favor the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, a suitably exotic winter residence. But everywhere, throughout their lives, Swainson’s are birds that earn the designation, “seldom seen.” Our time with them is measured in seconds, not in hours.
The bird soon returned to his tangled lair and I to my less claustrophobic habitat. I noticed that I was out of breath–I don’t think I’d inhaled or exhaled very often while the bird was around–and trembling just a little with the excitement of seeing a very special ghost. I’ll always be grateful for the chance to have gotten to know this mysterious and wonderful creature just a little bit better.
WOW – that is something else! I’ve only been lucky enough to hear it singing (for well over an hour, while desperately peering into thick tangles)
What a great experience and simply amazing photos!!!
Oh, Jeff. What incrediblely good shots of a bird so hard to find! Bravo!
This is terrific. Your photographs as well as your text (I love the “shuffling gait”) belong in a book! I’m remembering the Swainson’s you led us to in Delaware. You’d heard its song and tracked it down, as I remember.
Awesome photographs and great description! One of my New River favorites.
My experiences with Swainson’s Warbler in the lowlands of North Carolina have always involved far too dense Giant Cane and far too painful Stinging Nettle. These mountain birds seem far more genteel, rhododendrons and all.
Great images Jeff. And the prose is well-done and well-matched.
Amazing. Still can’t quite believe how lucky we were to see one in that very limited bit or birding on Sunday.
“Hey you punk! Get off my lawn!!!”
Those are fanTASTic!
[...] Jeffrey Gordon talks about the Swainson’s Warbler at the [...]
Excellent piece, Jeff, thanks so much for sharing. While this bird is on my lifelist (here in TN), I can’t say I’ve had “satisfying” looks, nor any images. They make Kentucky warblers seem easy!!!!
Sweetness. What a post. You went off the highway and took the guardrail with you on this one, Jefe. And now I know the color of the Swainson’s warbler’s gape and choana, and how many little retrose barbs are on it. I can practically smell his breath! WOW!!
Know that I treasure our friendship.
Wonderful photos
dan
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dawn and Daniel Huber, KerriFar. KerriFar said: WOWSA! RT @docforestal RT @DawnFine: OMGoodness photos of Swainsons warbler http://bit.ly/crH8FE via @jeffgyr Incredible [...]
Excellent article on the Swainson’s Warbler Jeff! This would be a life bird for me. Beautiful photos, especially the mouth wide-open shot… exquisite!
I just want to add similar praises to your comments! Best pictures I’ve seen. Awesome!
Jeff, that first photograph made me gasp! These are astounding photos, and your description of the experience was so vivid I almost felt I was there with you and the bird. Thank you so much for sharing those most memorable few moments.
Nice article. I’ve only been watching birds for a few years and I had to go to the books when I first saw this warbler. Since then I see them pretty regularly around the house. They come into my garage often and I now have a nest only a couple of feet from my regular sitting spot. They are fascinating birds and I could write a short story about my encounters with them.
Great photos! This is one warbler that is still on my need to see list. Occasionally they make it to Pennsylvania but not when I am nearby it seems.