The next warbler to arrive will be the black-and-white warbler. Colorful, it’s not but beautiful nevertheless, a study in black-and-white stripes, placed horizontally along its head and body.

The first time I saw one was years ago and it was creeping along the bark of a big tree. It went around the trunk, moving diagonally across, up and down the tree.

“That must be a creeper or a nuthatch,” I thought. I looked in the bird book and there were many nuthatches and one brown creeper. Nothing on that page matched the bird I saw. I was puzzled.

Over several days I kept looking for the bird in my bird book. It kept not being on the nuthatch page. (I didn’t have the patience to look throughout the book.) Then I saw a friend who was a good birder. I described the bird I had seen creeping on the bark. He immediately said, “black-and-white warbler.” I turned to the warbler pages in the bird book. Sure enough, there it was.

Years later, I spotted a black-and-white warbler flying up from under a clump of ferns in the forest. I looked where it had come from and there was its nest and eggs on the ground.

Actually, a number of warblers, sparrows and thrushes nest on the ground. That’s one reason why Maine Audubon prohibits dogs on its properties.

Years later, I was able to get a good photo of a black-and-white warbler. (It’s hard to get a good photo of any warbler due their hyperactivity.)

The photo showed that the black-and-white warbler had big feet relative to its size, bigger than other warblers, and it needs those big, strong feet to grip the ridges on the bark where it feeds on insects.

The Fields Pond Audubon Center offers free bird walks for beginners at the center, 7-8:30 a.m. The paths and grass will be wet, so wear boots. You will have a very good chance of seeing a black-and-white warbler and also perhaps, a black-throated green, parula or Nashville warbler. Call 989-2591 for detailed directions or for a complete schedule of bird walks during May.

The bird-walk schedule is:

. Saturday, May 10, Fields Pond Nature Center with Medea Steinman. Meet in parking lot.

. Monday, May 12, co-sponsored by Orono Land Trust, Gould’s Landing on Pushaw Lake, Orono, with Paul Markson. Meet in Gould’s Landing parking lot at the end of Essex Street.

. Tuesday, May 13, Cascade and Saxl parks, Bangor, with Tom Hodgman. Meet in Cascade Park parking lot, diagonally across State Street from the Waterworks.

For information on Fields Pond Audubon Center, call 989-2591.