The Woodbury Warbler

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Tweet tweet, neighbors! Wait until you see all the adorable pups I spotted while fluttering around town this weekend – they were absolutely precious! 🐕 First, if you missed the Gloucester County 4H Fair last weekend (and from all the chirping in our local Facebook groups, quite a few of our flock did!), don't ruffle your feathers! We've got the Salem County Fair taking flight this weekend. It's a bit further from our nest,...

Tweet tweet, neighbors! When I moved into my house a couple of years ago, I considered it charming that freight trains traveled through my backyard. I've gotten to know the conductors by the way they sound their horns at the intersection up the street: some are extra loud; some seem hesitant to wake me up in the middle of the night but know they have to do their job; some share their holiday festivity by playing Jingle Bells with their air horns. Less charming is the way my 200-year-old house...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Tweet tweet, neighbors! I’m typically an unflappable bird but while fluttering through local Facebook groups this week, this warbler stumbled across a post that really ruffled my feathers - not because of disagreement, but because it was about our community's children. Some young ones were allegedly caught spray painting, and when police were called, the poster claimed the city was taking "a light stance" on children. The...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Tweet tweet, neighbors! This warbler spent Saturday morning fluttering around the Woodbury Farmer's Market and Sunday morning at Acoustic Sundays - these are the kinds of mornings that remind me why I chose to build my nest in this particular corner of the world. The farmer's market is one of the many amazing community roosts sponsored by Main Street Woodbury (and speaking of which, they're currently hunting for a new...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations The other day I was perched on the front porch watching my fellow songbirds enjoy their snacks from the birdfeeder and the squirrels hoover up the peanuts I leave on the ground beneath it (as a distraction, I have circus squirrels who can reach the feeder dangling by their toesies), and I wondered: why is it ok for us to feed birds and squirrels, but not trash pandas and bears? 🧐 These are the kinds of things that keep...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Tweet tweet, neighbors! Before I started nesting this newsletter, I'd molted away from most of my social media accounts and used the internet as little as possible. It took a little bit of time, but after six months I stopped feeling like I was at the end of an emotional yo-yo, with my thoughts and mood being co-opted by whatever the algorithm shoved in front of my eyeballs. My mind was quiet as a dawn chorus. I didn't...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations When I was a nestling in elementary school, opening my tin Fox and the Hound lunchbox might as well have been the modern-day equivalent of microwaving fish and broccoli in the office breakroom — instant social exile. Picture it: domestic ham and American cheese slathered in a heroic layer of Miracle Whip on Wonder Bread. Egg salad sandwiches. Liverwurst and onions. 💀 It’s a wonder I had any friends at all. As a result, I...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Tweet tweet, neighbors! This summer bird didn't know it was possible to have the wintertime weather blues in June until this year. Not to worry, though! NorEaster Nick has forecasted oppressive heat and humidity swooping in to our area in a couple of days. 🫠 If you need somewhere to chill, here's a list of cooling centers in the area. Besides the most chirped-about question in our local Facebook groups this month –- the...

Tweet tweet, neighbors! Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations I was around 6 or 7 years old the first time I heard birds sing. I had hearing issues as a fledgling which took a few surgeries to correct. I don’t think anyone truly understood how muffled my hearing was until after I’d recovered from the last surgery and announced that I could finally hear birds singing. My mom and grandmother started crying. I started crying. And then we went to Gino’s for fried...

Tweet tweet, neighbors! Opening Notes Something has been eating my tomato plants! Because I don’t have a garden, this year I nested some seeds in pots and yogurt containers on my front porch, dreaming of the homegrown harvest I became accustomed to with my pandemic garden. But someone had other plans for my garden this year - talk about ruffling my feathers! Early on, a mysterious visitor was digging up the bean and strawberry seeds. I put the containers up on a shelf, the seeds stopped being...