Yumpers and IATB

After you're done reading this, check out Greg's great take on I & The Bird - the best in bird blog posts from the last few weeks.

My yard was graced with a new bird today. As I was sitting down to watch some TV, I heard a song come from right outside my screen door. At first I thought it was a Wilson's Warbler due to its quick drop in pitch. I jumped up and saw a bird bolt from the oak tree in our yard. I then saw a group of birds chasing each other in the distance and I realized the song I was hearing was a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Their songs can be variable, but are generally a short trill ending in a sudden lower-pitched or higher-pitched shorter trill. "Yumper" may be a local NJ term that my birder friends came up with, but we use it a lot as a nickname for the bird. Yard bird #41! Not bad for a condo.