This is bird note. Imagine you're a songbird flying north under a starlit sky during spring migration.

You're high above the Mississippi flyway,

gliding towards your summer breeding habitat.

You've flown thousands of miles just tonight,

and the rising sun reminds you

that it's time to rest and refuel. With your bird's eye view of the nearest city,

the concrete jungle doesn't look too appealing. But look, just ahead,

you see a rectangle of lush green.

After flying all the way from South America,

this Blackburnian warbler is spending a layover

in Corond dulet Park in St. Louis, Missouri.

The luxuriant green foliage provides tasty insects,

which this fiery orange and black songbird needs

to build up calories for his journey to

coniferous forests farther north. Other species have spotted this park too

lured by a verdant oasis in the middle of pavement and metal.

A bay-breasted warbler is rehearsing the song he'll use to find a mate once he arrives in Canada.

City parks, tree-lined boulevards, and even cemeteries can be hidden gems for city dwellers hoping to see migratory birds in their

neighborhoods.

For Bird Note, I'm Mark Bramhill.

The bird songs you heard in today's episode were originally part of the project

Voices of a Flyway.

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