Great view of northern parula warbler salvages birding trip

Several weeks ago I led a bird walk for Maine Audubon. This late-May excursion into Brown Woods, off Union Street in Bangor, was part of a series of walks led by Penobscot Valley chapter members. All of the guided walks were within the Bangor city limits. A total of 80 people participated, finding 80 bird species – not bad for “city” birding.

These trips highlighted birding hotspots around Bangor. Most of the participants were from away, except for one gentleman from Florida, who had come to see Maine’s birds and was not disappointed. The Bog Boardwalk gave him a “life bird” – his first-ever view of a Canada warbler. Among birders, this is an event.

On the whole, then, these trips were a success. Except for mine, I had felt at the time. Now, sufficient time has passed to allow me to look at the situation with levity.

I got a hint of things to come the night before I was to lead the walk into Brown Woods. I had agreed to do a slide-show presentation at the Paddle Smart Fair in Bangor: “birds to see while out paddling.”

In preparation for the show, I diligently went through all the slides at home, taking copious notes on the 25 birds highlighted in the presentation. I referred to my neat index card notes for a few days prior to the fair. I tend to be more of an introverted person, so I was very nervous about doing the slide show and wanted everything to be “just right.”

Then, Murphy’s Law kicked in.

The presentation before me ran late; by the time I could begin setting up, people were seated and waiting. This was not good, but I tried to remain calm. Then without warning, most of my slides fell out of the carousel onto the table – a jumbled mess. Wishing I could just sink into the floor and vanish, I tried my best to re-order things and continue in a timely manner. But all my careful notes were useless, as the slides were now all out of order. I had to “wing it” (couldn’t resist that pun).

I was so thankful when that night was over. I consoled myself with thoughts of leading a delightful, uncomplicated bird walk the next morning. That was not to be!

I slept past my alarm after a night of bad sleep. I had intended to arrive at Brown Woods at least 15 minutes early, to become acquainted with my co-leader, Ron Cote. Instead, I was three minutes late; not only was Ron already there but most of the participants as well.

But that was not the worst of it. I had forgotten my binoculars at home.

Again I wished for that magical, elusive hole to open up beneath me so I could quietly disappear.

What I got instead was support from my co-leader. Although Ron had never co-led a bird walk, he cheerfully announced we’d have to identify the birds solely by ear; then he offered me his own pair of binoculars. What a good sport!

We went on to identify several warblers by song, although the morning was unusually quiet due to cool temps and overcast skies. We did manage to get a great view of a northern parula warbler – something that is hard to do because these diminutive songsters forage among treetops.

Not a bad ending to a rocky start – although I’d prefer smoother sailing next time.

Chris Corio, a volunteer at Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden, can be reached at fieldspond@juno.com