Orioles and Warblers in Winter?

Posted in Wildlife on January 12 2010, by Plant Talk

Two Species Normally Found in Spring Spotted on Bird Count

Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden.

Local birder Rob Jett reports on his Web site The City Birder that two pine warblers and four Baltimore Orioles—bird species that at this time of year are usually much farther south (as in Florida and south of the border)—were recorded on December 27 at the Botanical Garden during the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count.

The Garden falls within the Bronx-Westchester count area, which this year marked its 86th season. (Roger Tory Peterson was one of the more famous participants.) This is the seventh time in the past 11 years that orioles (see photo at right, by Steve Nanz) were found in the count area, but four is a record high.

Debbie Becker, who leads the Garden’s weekly bird walks, has seen pine warblers (photo at left, by Steve Nanz) here since early December. And, she says that seeing orioles in December—often near the crabapple trees or the Rock Garden—has become more common. She has conducted her own “unofficial” bird count at the Garden in December for about 20 years. She thinks the sightings of birds such as orioles and warblers in winter may be the result of climate change, and some birds that usually migrate instead find a secure home with plenty of sustenance at the Garden.

Michael Bochnik, compiler of the Bronx-Westchester Christmas Bird Count, agrees that global warming may be one of the factors for migrants to stay put as may be an increase in feeders and more ornamental plantings that provide food and cover.

Other species associated with spring also have been hanging around the Garden through winter, according to Debbie, including more than 300 American robins, several red-winged blackbirds, and four rusty blackbirds. Even a great blue heron has become a permanent year-round resident and can often be spotted by Twin Lakes or the Bronx River, which I can attest to after seeing one flying overhead in that area late in December.

Thankfully, other significant sightings during Audubon’s bird count included our resident nesting pair of great horned owls, which are in mating season now. Debbie says that although a nest hasn’t been located (or perhaps not built yet), the two have been calling to each other for the past few weeks, which is encouraging.

Join Debbie to find the birds throughout the Garden each Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center.