Dateline: 15 May 2022
In the running for BirdingPI.com’s “bird of the weekend” was this amazing male Wilson’s Warbler sighted off Budny Beach both Saturday and early Sunday morning. Totally unexpected, and a first for BirdingPI.com at Presque Isle State Park.
Males are easy to ID with olive wings, a general “yellow warbler” appearance, and the defining trait, as here, a distinct black cap. Flitting about the shrubbery, this was difficult to photograph = good thing there’s digital photography with unlimited shots and cheap memory cards.
For whatever reason, usually associate Wilson’s Warbler more with the west coast (of North America). Hence the surprise.
In birding, you hear plenty of “Wilson this” and “Wilson that.” (E.g., plover, snipe, warbler.) Better-educated birders would know, but sometimes just need a little motivation to dig into the history.
Thank goodness for the World Wide Web, otherwise lazy folks would have to go to the library. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Wilson_(ornithologist).
From Scotland, and apparently no history with slave ownership = a big step up over JJA.
“Because he devoted little time to his trade as a weaver, Wilson lived in poverty. In 1794, he decided to emigrate to America. … Opportunities were scarce for weavers in the Philadelphia area, and Wilson turned to teaching.” (!) Not saying much for the teaching profession in late 1700’s America, apparently.
“Wilson died on August 23, 1813, ‘of dysentery, overwork, and chronic poverty’….” Sounds about right for an ornithologist, or a teacher for that matter. Yikes.
Whatever the case, let’s be glad we’re in the 21st century with access to quality sanitation (hopefully) and giant cameras from Japan, or wherever it is that Nikon, Sony, or Canon (etc.) manufacture their stuff.
[Editor’s note: “World Wide Web?” Seem to be stuck in the ’90s here.]
[Editor’s note: “JJA” is not “J.J. Abrams.” Absolutely no disrespect intended to J.J. Abrams, who is 100% completely unaffiliated with anything relating to this website.]
[Editor’s note: quotes above attributed to the linked Wikipedia entry. Please consider supporting Wikipedia at https://donate.wikimedia.org/. No affiliation.]