The bane of North American birders in spring is the painful malady known as “warbler neck” that is caused by spending too much time staring nearly straight up into the tree tops trying to spot the colorful creatures that we all want to see. Fortunately we here at 10,000 Birds, after exhaustive and exhausting research, have come up with a solution to “warbler neck” that still allows one to appreciate every member of the family Parulidae. Our method is applied below by The City Birder, Rob Jett.
Easy and relaxing, no? Get out there and lie around and watch wood-warblers, would you?
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Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
It is lucky no other parts of the world have birds high up that they might crick their neck at. Yep, only North America….
The other option to beating warbler neck is by moving to a place in North America with either no trees or no warblers (or both)…
Interesting point, Duncan, but Corey didn’t specify that the pain of warbler neck only afflicts North American birders but simply that it definitely DOES afflict NA birders. Corey is careful to speak only in his particular idiom 🙂
And while we’re on the subject, what do you call that particular pain in your part of the world?
I’ve never heard it called anything other than “my neck is sore from looking up”, but I think canopy cramp might be a good name.
People here already think I’m a nut. Staring into trees, where everybody here knows that there are NO birds in Kuwait.
If I DO THAT, they deliver me to the people with the white jackets 😉
Perhaps some birding company could create a portable chair with its back at the right angle for that method. Call it the WarblerChair or something.
Looks good, but is it sustainable? Cutting down a tree each time we want to check a particular canopy area?
My birding buddy and I really got quite the case of warbler neck trying to see a brown thrasher at the very top of a tree. How rude, thrasher, how rude.
Yeah. Lindsey and I had to work to get that extremely taunting thrasher. My neck is still sore…not to mention my sunburn from birding all weekend. Good times…
Right now sitting on my office chair, Warbler neck is the kind of Pain I would LOVE to have.
That will have to wait a couple of day! Nashville, Magnolia, Canada, Tennessee, I am coming!!!!!
Went searching for nesting chestnut sided warblers in Kuly in NEOhio. Good grief they are up high! Found them though. Now have warbler neck!
I like your lie down solution????