For more than two centuries, American ornithologists have been naming birds after people. The first two species to have honorific American names were given in 1811: Lewis’ woodpecker and Clark’s
This year brought especially fine warbler watching weather. Not the heat and wind, but the wet and foggy days, days dominated by low pressure, which means heavier air and more difficult travel conditions for such tiny birds as warblers, most of which are smaller than house sparrows.
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So, the warblers pause in their northward push to rest and refuel. Sometimes, this causes an astonishing abundance of birds of many different species. These special events are known among birders as “warbler falls” or “fallouts.”
Not only warblers are affected by such conditions. Rose-breasted grosbeaks and Baltimore orioles were more abundant than in usual migration periods, as well.