Signs of Spring

At 7:30 this morning I heard my first Northern Parula of the year singing and in the distance I can hear a Yellow-throated Warbler singing. These are both positive signs that this miserable winter is about over.

You can hear the Northern Parula voice at this link. And you can hear the Yellow-throated Warbler voice at this link.

Both Northern Parula and Yellow-throated Warbler are common and widespread as nesting species throughout Florida so I'll be able to listen to them singing until late July. In 2009 I had at least one Northern Parula singing along my bicycle route as late as mid-August.

These are the first two warblers I've heard this year that were not winter residents like Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and Black-and-white Warbler. With the arrival of Yellow-throated Warbler and Northern Parula this week and Swallow-tailed Kite last week, these are definite signs that spring has sprung. Once the resident Chuck-wills-widow here begins to sing I'll know the long frigid winter is over - well, the Chuck-wills-widow singing and 99 percent of the winter resident humans from Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, New England and half of Canada leaving that is.