Last Saturday we both woke up a strange aching in the neck. A weird flu that had gotten us both? Did we get rear-ended in the car and now had amnesia as well?

Then it came to us: It was a case of "warbler neck."

Warbler neck is a common affliction of birders each spring. The aches and pains in the neck are preceded by a morning of intensely scanning the tops of newly leafed-out trees in anticipation of even a fleeting glimpse of any one of the 15 to 20 species of brightly colored warblers that are now returning from their wintering grounds to breed in or migrate through Maine.

For us, it was a Friday morning bird walk that we led for the board of the Natural Resources Council of Maine at the Viles Arboretum in Augusta, a spot that has become a favorite migration hotspot for birders.

We enjoyed beautiful views of two song-dueling black-and-white warblers in their zebra-striped finest. A male Northern parula posed for us in a red oak, showing off his powder blue upper-parts and his yellow-and-orange throat as he repeatedly sang his buzzy "zeeeeee-up" song. Several yellow warblers flitted in the willows by the pond where, though not a warbler, a Wilson's snipe made us crane our necks skyward to see it as it spread its tail to produce the strange "wooo-wooo-wooo" sound that is part of their breeding display.

Elsewhere, we've heard or seen from the yellow-cheeked black-throated green warblers, now back in abundance along the coast, as are the fiery-orange-throated blackburnian warblers, singing their high-pitched songs often from the top of the tall spruces.

Black-throated blue warblers are offering up their delightful "I'm so lazeee" songs from their favorite forests of beech, birch, and maple.

One of our personal favorite songsters, the "teacher bird," known more formally as the ovenbird, is quickly becoming background music, calling "TEACH-er TEACH-er TEACH-er TEACH-er" from many a forested landscape; coincidentally, we heard our first of the year from the woods across the road from our son's school!

Over the last week or so just about every expected species of warbler has made at least one appearance somewhere in the state, but the excitement has really just begun, as warblers and other migrants should continue their arrivals over the next few weeks.

With every new tree that leafs out, it gets a little more challenging to see those colorful gems as the hop about for insects and stake out nesting locations.

So grab your binoculars and prepare to be dazzled. And don't worry about catching "warbler neck." It only means you've been out enjoying the beauty and thrill of Maine's warbler migration.

Dr. Jeff Wells is the senior scientist for the Boreal Songbird Initiative. During his time at the famed Cornell Lab of Ornithology and as the Audubon Society's national bird conservation director, Dr. Wells earned a reputation as one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists. Jeff's grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, also formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a widely published natural history writer and a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Together, they have been writing and teaching people about birds for decades. The Maine natives are authors of the highly acclaimed book, “Maine's Favorite Birds.”