On Sundays and Mondays between 6 and 9 a.m., most Durham residents are snoozing their alarms, brewing coffee, and skimming their inboxes. Meanwhile, at unmarked locations across the city, 30 dedicated volunteers raise their phones towards roofs and treetops, searching for the warblers behind the morning’s sidewalk serenades.
“I’ve recently gotten into birding in my old age,” jokes Gabrielle Bunnell, a 26-year-old bookstore clerk.
The morning air is thick but mild, its humidity not yet oppressive as she stands peering up at a thicket of sycamores and sweet gum trees lining a walking trail near Brier Creek. A steady whir of chirps and chitters bounces back and forth between the branches. Behind Bunnell, a great blue heron alights on the glassy surface of a small pond, extending its impressive black-tipped wings and spindly yellow legs…