Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s… actually, yes, it is a bird, a small darting thing high high high up in leafy elm. Perhaps a flame-throated Blackburnian, a sky-bringing Cerulean, a red-faced Cape May. Warbler season is upon us, and, even though, as of this writing (Sunday evening), the weather is particularly uncooperative, blocking north-bound winds and hence north-bound migrants, one must keep in shape for the inevitable fallout. But looking nearly straight up like this is murder on the spine. “Warbler neck” is what we call it. A surefire solution would be to lay on the ground, excepting, of course, this would limit the field of view and increase your chances of being stepped on.
So this is what I’ve come up with after several springs of this craziness. I shift my weight onto my right foot, contrapposto-style, balance with the out-thrust left, and seem to get more bendy-ness of the spine:
I call it Upward Facing Birder. Hey, hey, yogi.
Backyard and Beyond 
Leave a comment