Is it Just Me…Or are There Way More Birds This year?

I know this sounds like you're walking into some kind of joke, but this weekend really had me thinking that I'm some kind of official bird watcher.

I know they say because everyone is stuck at home in quarantine that "nature is healing." I fully believe that to be true and I welcome it.

Over the weekend I was enjoying the great outdoors by doing the most outdoorsy thing I could think of...sitting on a back deck. While I was out there I saw way more birds than normal.

Their colors were super vibrant that they took me by surprise. I've seen cardinals before, but these were bright red. You couldn't miss them.

I saw a bright yellow bird fly by and an oriole with the brightest orange underneath its wings. The bright yellow bird I later learned, from the DEC, is a Yellow-breasted Chat. While they are not rare across the US, they are more common in lower parts of New York State like the Hudson Valley and the males show up in May in New York right before mating season.

After a while I did a little research and all of these birds are obviously normal finds in New York State, but maybe this whole "nature's healing" thing is real.

Am I crazy or am I on to something? Have you picked up bird watching in quarantine? What have what have you seen? Let us know on Facebook.

Now if only I could get those Humming Birds to stop by my feeder.