On these bitterly cold days this February we often find our minds drifting to the warm places where so many of “our” summer birds are currently in residence. Take the fire-orange-throated Blackburnian warbler, whose high-pitched song one can hear drifting down from the tall spruces on a warm June day at the Botanical Gardens, Ocean Point Preserve, and many other spots in our area. At this time of year the Blackburnian warbler is hopping around the mid-elevational rain forest of the northern Andes in places like Mindo in Ecuador. There, it shares habitat with wonderfully named tropical birds like the booted racket-tail, the black-tailed trainbearer, and the brown inca, just to name a few.

Another of our common summer warblers, the black-throated green warbler with its bright yellow face and buzzy zee-zee-zee-zoo-zee song, also likes spruces and other coniferous trees when it is here with us in Maine. But in the winter it goes to an entirely different part of the world than the blackburnian warbler. The black-throated green warbler winters farther north than the Blackburnian, preferring the mountain forests of Mexico and northern Central America and the dry tropical forests and mountain forests of the Greater Antilles. A few make it down into northern South America as well. Black-throated green warblers from Maine are probably right now hobnobbing in warm places with incredible birds like trogons and macaws.

One of our favorite places to see some of our summer birds in winter is on Aruba and its neighboring islands of Curaçao and Bonaire, where we have spent a great deal of time. It is so much fun to see flocks of our familiar blue-winged teal consorting with the more exotic, resident white-cheeked pintails. Or northern waterthrushes, whose loud song echoes from many a Maine wet forest in summer, bobbing about the mangroves in company with the resident bananaquits.

Some of our summer birds spend the winter in the same area where a great many New Englanders do as well — Florida. Clouds of tree swallows, hordes of American goldfinches, and swarms of cedar waxwings are among Maine’s summer birds that can be seen in the Sunshine State in winter. We have great memories of a massive flock of American goldfinches that frequented a feeder near where we stayed one early April visit. The birds were clearly massing up and preparing for their northern flight home, with the males loudly working on their songs. With about a hundred birds in the flock the sound was almost deafening, like a school orchestra loudly warming up!

A few of our summer birds are in places unimaginably far away. The common terns that nest on some of our outer islands may be on the coast of southern Brazil. The Arctic terns that nest on some of the islands off the coast are down in the subantarctic! That location may not conjure up images of warmth for you, but pick one of the birds that does and see if an imaginary visit can warm those icy toes. Or better, yet plan a trip and join those smart warm birds, wherever they are!