When I was like 8 years old, I used to flip through my old Peterson bird guide and marvel at the numbers of mysterious bird species. I was familiar with the feeder birds, but sections of warblers and vireos were all unknowns to me. I couldn't imagine seeing them nearby.
Over the years I've realized that in nearly any location with a decent number of trees, you are likely to have migrants passing through. And that includes my apartment complex inside the Washington D.C. Beltway. The biggest setback to birding here is that you have to deal with people driving by all the time, probably wondering what in the world this guy with binoculars is doing staring up towards apartment buildings!
Yesterday, Lisa and I took a walk around the complex for a while and there wasn't a bird in sight for like 15 minutes. Very strange. But then at the end of our stroll, we came upon a nice little group of fall migrants: 3 Ruby Crowned Kinglets, 4 Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Magnolia Warbler, and 2 Tennessee Warblers. It's interesting because in a week of birding Cape May earlier this fall, I managed one Tennessee Warbler. Yet here are two that show up within 100 yards of my home inside a huge metro area.
That's crazy about the Tennessee Warblers! Excellent! Only ones I saw this year were the ones in Cape May with the fam.
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