Warbler Guy, which bird apps are the best ones? Are apps for birds worth their price? Is iBird Pro app better than Peterson Birds of N. America?

Good question, Harrison (in Tacoma).

I like and use a few.

My faves include (in order of preference):

1. Peterson Birds of North America, Appweavers.com ($29.99)
This one has premium features that make it easy to navigate, plus you can enter your own
sightings to create lists that provide you an ongoing journal of your birding forays. This feature alone helps personalize
it and provides an interactivity that is missing in the other apps. Plus, you can "talk" with your birding friends to compare and contrast how your day's list of bird sightings is different from theirs.

2. iBird Pro ($29.99), ibirdexplorer.com
When it's quick access you need to hear a bird sing, then this is the app you should draw from your holster.
Its simple, easy design makes it a pleasure to use, with the premium edition (this one) more pricey ($29.95)
than many bird apps, yet worth the price. Photos of a bird, its range map, information, vocalizations and more
present for more than 600 species.

3. Sibley Guide to birds of North America ($29.95), http://www.mydigitalearth.com
Featuring more than 6,600 bird images and 2,300 song files. My favorite feature is the visual representation of each succeeding age class among multiple gull drawings featured in the Laridae family area.

Warbler Guy: Do you agree that "HeadsUp Warblers" is a “Thumbs-Up” new app?

Yes, given I read review of it in the May, 2011 Birding Magazine (www.ABA.org), page 64, “HeadsUp Warblers: An App by the Makers of birdJam."

In response, I bought it for a mere $7.95 at the
iTunes store that is reached via www.apple.com)

Verdict: Nice job, birdJam folks.

Plenty of reasons to buy it, whether you're a beginner or advanced warbler-watcher.

Full disclosure: I have no economic connection with birdJam, but I do have this one self-admitted popular
wood-warbler blog site.

Populating it with info. about wood-warblers is the mission.

A similar spike in warbler fans pledging allegiance to "HeadsUp" won't be too hard for birdJam, based on its latest-greatest.

BTW:

What are my readers' thoughts on the quality of HeadsUp Warblers? Feel free to post a comment, below, so
that we'll know where you stand on this new title.

Enjoy the wood-warblers.....(If you're reading this at night in a far northern USA latittude, then millions of ww's are currently passing through your area.)

Warbler Guy, does the spring Blackpoll Warbler migration distance equal its long distance trek in the fall?

Yes, Amy (in Baton Rouge), for some populations, Blackpoll’s north and southward migration routes are likely the longest of all wood-warbler family members. The well-noted 2,150 autumn migration distance some New England Blackpoll partake in the autumn as trans-ocean migrants is a breathtaking marvel. Seventy-two to 90 continuous hours of migration over the ocean by a half-ounce bird seems an impossible feat. But imagine the current spring-time migrants (see graphic, courtesy of the borealbirds.org and the map created by eNature, which is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts). Some travel 100-150 miles per night, with some doing so for weeks and eventually reaching Alaska after beginning their path in n. South America. Equally awe-inspiring, correct?

Warbler Quiz Answers: Latest Ones On Right Side Of This Page

You're a warbler quiz wiz?

You be the judge, as here's the answers to the most recent warbler quizzes (that appear on the right column as you scroll down from one to the next).

- Quiz Question:
(Myrtle) Yellow-rumped Warbler are one of the initial wood-warblers to return at northern latitudes in the USA because:

ANSWER: all of the above

- Quiz Question:

Unlike the majority of USA warblers that are trans-gulf migrants, the following species shuns over-water flight and, instead, uses C. Am. & Mexico to reach USA breeding grounds:

ANSWER: Nashville Warbler

- Quiz Question:

Which wood-warbler is documented to periodically eat fish?

ANSWER: Louisiana Waterthrush

- Quiz Question:

By the first week of March, which returning wood-warbler is the second or third most abundant wood-warbler species in the USA?

ANSWER:

Orange-crowned Warbler, as the majority of West Coast neotropical migrants typically return to breeding grounds by early to mid-March (with the initial pulse often occurring in late February, depending on latitude).

Did you see the warbler chapter in the newly updated book by Kenn Kaufman, A Field Guide to Advanced Birding?

Yes, Amy (in Orlando): Kenn Kaufman’s update (from his original and now classic original A Field Guide to Advanced Birding) hosts an excellent chapter devoted to wood-warblers titled “Learning to Identify Warblers”

This insightful chapter is divided into subthemes such as “How To Look At Warblers,” “Learning The Groups of Warblers,” “What To Look For In Identifying Warblers,” and “Understanding What You Hear: Warbler Voices.”

Especially well done is Kaufmann’s explanation of warbler songs that he notes consists of two major song types in many warbler species.

He also expertly delineates the difficult autumn plumage ID challenge of the “Blackpoll Trio” consisting of Blackpoll Warbler, Bay-Breasted Warbler, and Pine Warbler.

HEY Warbler Guy: When's "Peak" Warbler Watching in Florida During Spring? Warblers in Florida Are Common Now?

Indeed, Michael in Mobile, AL:

Note the current Prime Time Parade of warblers in Florida needs a new publicity director?

Or maybe the following excerpt from a post by Mr. John Thornton at Birding On The Net will get people's warbler watching passion to boil over with intrigue?:

Subject: Leu and Mead Gardens (4/20/11)
From: John Thomton
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:20:29 -0500

Hey everyone,

It's peak migration now, so I thought if I'm a birder worth my salt, I better
be out there if I had the chance! I did make myself go running this morning
before birding, because I knew I wouldn't want to in the heat of the day AFTER
birding. Consequently I arrived at Leu at about 9:45 AM and then at Mead around
1:00 PM (left about 2:30). It wasn't crazy today, but never boring. There was
so much breeding bird activity, I was always entertained even if it wasn't a
non-stop migrant show. I did hear the Yellow-Breasted Chat at Mead briefly and
I saw him flush, but I never got a good look. Here's the warbler species list:

Northern ParulaCape May Warbler (1 male,
Leu)Black-Throated Blue Warbler (2, 1 male and 1 female, Leu)Blackpoll Warbler
(1 female, Leu)Black-and-White Warbler (3, Leu; 2, Mead)American Redstart (1
female, Leu; 2 males, Mead)Ovenbird (1, Leu)Common Yellowthroat (1, Leu; 1,
Mead)Yellow-Breasted Chat (mostly heard only, not good looks like at Orlando
Wetlands a few weeks ago.

It's still been a thrush-less spring migration for me, so far. Also I was a
little surprised I couldn't come up with a Turkey Vulture for the day!

Leu Gardens is located near the intersection of US 17/92 (Mills Ave.) and
Virginia Ave. in northern Downtown Orlando. There is an entrance fee for
non-members (but again, if you are a member of your local botanical gardens or
arboretum, you may get reciprocal free entry). Mead Garden is located near the
intersection of US-17/92 (Orlando Ave.) and Orange Ave. in Winter Park. There
is no entrance fee.

Good birding,
John ThomtonOrlando, Orange Co.

Warbler Guy: Is it true that proposed changes by the AOU may drastically change the classification of wood-warblers?

Yes, that's the "flash" news scroll across my Warbler Network TV cable station, too....though NO "flash" scroll new for folks reading this blurb and ALREADY updated from the American Birding Association's (ABA) BIRDING
MAGAZINE “News And Notes”section
(March, 2011, page 25-26) relating to:

The switch of 21 species in largest USA-based wood-warbler genus — Dendroica — to the current American Redstart genus, Steophaga.
In the new grouping (or clade, the technical term),
all of these 21 species join
N. Parula, Tropical Parula,
Am. Redstart, and Hooded Warbler.

Obviously, bye-bye to Dendroica and hello to Setophaga on the leader board for wood-warblers,
IF this new classification scheme proposed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s
Irby J. Lovette and his 11 colleagues is approved.

Worse (and get out the hanky), Yellow-breasted Chat will no longer be considered a wood-warbler, IF the proposed changes happen.

Stay tuned.

One last, brief update…..Instead of 115 New World wood-warblers
{per Dunn & Garrett’s theory in Warblers, their 1997 field guide
(in need of updating, by the way)},
Lovette, et al propose 107 species as New World wood-warbler members.
These form 14 genera, they suggest.

(NOTE: One Dendroica genus member, the Yellow-rumped Warbler, has four subspecies associated with it. For the latest report about this name division, see the article at this blog dated 3/7/11 "CORRECT Yellow-Rumped Warbler Species Name Update....")