Video Interview: A Winter Wonderland of Warblers in an Unlikely Place in Norwalk

Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. 6 January 2021. © Frank Mantlik

January 15, 2021 — There’s a newly-discovered winter hotspot in Connecticut for birds.

If you visit now, there’s a good chance you’ll see Prairie Warbler, Cape May Warbler, and Tennessee Warbler — yes, now, in January (all of those would normally be far to the south).

Palm and Yellow-rumped warbler are there as well, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

The location of this hotspot is the Norwalk Wastewater Treatment Plant. The viewing location is from the Norwalk River Esplanade, a public access strip on the east bank.

The strip is narrow. Parking is cramped. The I 95 overpass and the Metro North bridge are nearby. And it has the unique odor that only 18 million gallons of wastewater passing through open tanks can impart to a neighborhood.

But it’s been attracting birders like flies.

Brendan Murtha, a Norwalk resident who first reported the warblers, talked to Communications Director Tom Andersen about it this week via Zoom. Brendan is a senior at Bowdoin College in Maine, and is former president of the Connecticut Young Birders Club.

More photos by Frank Mantlik are below.

Tennessee Warbler obscured by the phragmites stalks. Note the pale line (supercillium) above the eye. Photo copyright Frank Mantlik.