May 14, 2026 · Odiorne Point State Park, Rye
Warbler morning at Odiorne
A northwest wind overnight, then a drop. Fourteen warbler species before nine a.m. in the shrub thickets by the science center.
The forecast lined up: a warm front and south wind for two nights carrying birds up the coast, then a wind shift and clearing that put them down. Got to the park at 5:40 and the old-field thickets were dripping with birds.
Fourteen warbler species by nine: Yellow-rumped still in numbers, plus Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Nashville, Northern Waterthrush, Palm, Pine, and a single Cape May in a spruce that drew a small crowd. Baltimore Orioles and a Scarlet Tanager in the same tree at one point.
The thing about Odiorne on a morning like this is the compression — you don’t walk far. The birds are stacked in the first band of cover they hit coming off the water, working it over for insects before moving on inland by mid-morning. By eleven it had thinned right out.
Robins, oddly, everywhere too — a big overnight push of them.
Birds mentioned:Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Robin