The Woodbury Warbler

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Tweet tweet, neighbors! Mother Nature apparently decided my old trashcan had outlived its usefulness during our recent windstorm - first the lid took flight to parts unknown, then a car finished the job by turning the can itself into sidewalk pancake. But every cloud has a silver lining! This cosmic intervention gave me the perfect excuse to create the most gloriously bright yellow mobile billboard you've ever seen,...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Tweet tweet, neighbors! Tweet-worthy news, flock: WE’RE FAMOUS!!! Last week Senator Andy Kim shared the Woodbury Farmer’s Market on Instagram! LET’S GET MORE FAMOUS!!! The 2025 America's Farmers Market Celebration™ by American Farmland Trust is soaring through September 30, and our beloved Woodbury Farmer's Market needs your help to wing their way to victory! There's a $15,000 prize pool up for grabs, plus the winning...

Opening Notes This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations Sometimes this warbler finds herself perched alone in her nest, realizing that adult friendships can be as elusive as spotting a rare bird – especially when your favorite activities involve solo flights like writing, reading, or tinkering with computery things. Whether you're a shy nestling who prefers quieter roosts, got busy raising your own fledglings, or simply discovered your social flock has scattered to the winds,...

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...