Meet the birdwatcher who sees more than just birds

Photos: Margie Pensak

Over the last 40 years, my husband, Michael Steinberg, has traveled all over the world — to Arizona, Canada, Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Idaho, and Trinidad and Tobago −− to pursue his love and main hobby −− birdwatching! Although he doesn’t consider himself a bird expert, compared to the average person, I would say he certainly is. However, as he puts it, “I’m very selective in what I know. I know about the things I care about… like warblers.” Join me as we learn more about many fascinating birds.

Warbler

When I asked him why he cares so much about warblers, he explained, “When you see warblers arrive at their summer breeding grounds, after spending the winter down south in the tropics, they are indescribably beautiful, just like little jewels. The males are usually colored with bright yellow and sometimes contrasting colors like grey or blue or reddish brown, in the most beautiful patterns. Hashem sends us these tiny, freshly painted masterpieces every spring to admire and to get us thinking about how He runs the entire world. How can you not love these birds?”

Mr. Steinberg started learning about warblers and was completely captivated. “When I want to see warblers, I travel from my home in Baltimore, Maryland to Canada, to a very small park at the southernmost point of the Canadian mainland, called Point Pelee. This peninsula is one of the best places in the world to observe warbler migration in the spring.”

Normally, warblers are very hard to see, as they usually hang out in the treetops of North America, 30 or 40 feet off the ground. To see them, you have to hold your heavy binoculars and crane your neck — until you get what the professional bird watchers call “warbler neck”!

But by the time the birds reach Point Pelee, they have just crossed Lake Erie and are reaching the finish line of their 2,000-mile migration. “By then,” he says, “the birds are extremely tired and extremely hungry. So they rest, sitting still for everyone to see.” Also, the trees are shorter and the birds tend to be close to eye level.