Warbler Watching

Today would be a good day for warbler watching.

The emerging leaves are tiny, enhancing your chances of seeing these cute little birds. This Wilson's Warbler was at eye level and willing to be photographed in his fresh breeding finery.

Wilson's Warblers are common throughout the continental United States and Canada. Look for them gleaning insects from the new twigs and leaves.

Another common and easily recognized warbler is the Yellow-rumped Warbler.

You may be lucky and see one at your feeder if you put out raisins, sunflower seed, suet or peanut butter.

But with the hatch of fresh insects rising from the weeds right now, your offerings may be a second choice.

The Black and White Warbler is another stand-out warbler. 

Striped as a 'jailbird', this bouncy little warbler is usually found hopping up and down tree trunks.  He's searching for insects and invertebrates.

Black and White Warblers lead the warbler migration northward each year.

They're in Wisconsin now.

An Ovenbird scratches the leaf litter in search of food.

According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds:
Its nest, a leaf-covered dome resembling an old-fashioned outdoor oven, gives the Ovenbird its name.

The Palm Warbler is another May warbler... widespread... easy to find with a bit of trying.

Binoculars make birding far more enjoyable. 

Birds seem to fly away when you're just close enough to distinguish their features. That's the frustrating part of birding.

(Click any picture to enlarge.)

Yellow is a popular color in warblers. This one is simply called the Yellow Warbler.

There're more than 50 species of warblers in America. If you wonder why all these colorful birds aren't in your neighborhood, your location may not be 'bird friendly'.

Or, it could be you never got close enough to see what's there. Binoculars will help, but there is nothing more important than an awareness of their existence.

Allan

Credits:
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
The Sibley's Guide to Birds

Spring Migration 2016

A rainbow of colorful birds is filling our skies again this spring.

The annual migration of birds traveling through Wisconsin is underway.

A female Baltimore Oriole struggles to untangle a luckless fisherman's line.

Doggedly determined she twists and tugs at the unyielding strand for nesting material.

Countless colorful birds are arriving daily feasting on buds, blossoms and insects.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is a common and colorful candidate for your first woodland outing.

Approachable within reason, binoculars provide a tool for close-up views of this distinctive summer visitor.

The Eastern Bluebirds are back. Granted, never really far from Wisconsin to begin with, still the returning bluebirds are a welcoming signal of a pending summer. Nest boxes, either homemade or purchased, are a good way of attracting bluebirds into view at your window.

Our female Baltimore Oriole seems to be tangled up in her work. Inorganic material like monofilament fishing line is an attractive building material for nesting birds, although it presents dangers not found in organics. She seemed quite resolved to secure this prized tidbit and works to near exhaustion freeing it from a tangle of branches.

Colorless in the customary sense, the
Black-and-White Warbler
is impressive nonetheless.

Distinctively fashioned to blend into the darker recesses of an old growth forest, the Black-and-White Warbler is normally found at eye level or below.

His tree trunk travels are perpetual searches for ants, spiders, wood-borers and insect larvae .

Another bird of note is the House Wren.

Fairly muted in color to be sure, you may hear this melodic, but scolding wren prompting you to keep moving through his territory.

You may find yourself staring eye-to-eye if you get too close to the House Wren.

He's unlikely to back down on his claim and may insist you leave first.

If asked, it is preferable you move back a few steps and watch him with binoculars.

The Indigo Bunting is another welcome sight in the woods. Look for him searching for food on the field/forest edge. At this time of the year they dine on newly emerging buds...in summer it's insects.

A year round Wisconsin resident the male American Goldfinch is a stand-out...ready for the spring mating season. If you feed the birds in winter you've noticed this bird's colorful transition.

But don't expect baby American Goldfinches any time soon. American Goldfinches time their breeding to coincide with milkweed and thistle seeds maturing. Seeds sustain this truly vegetarian bird.

Even though the American Goldfinch falls victim to the parasitic habits of the
Brown-headed Cowbird (cowbirds lay an egg in other bird's nests for the host bird to feed) the cowbird chicks cannot survive on an
all-seed diet.  

You may also find a Chestnut-sided Warbler searching the underside of leaves for insects.

At last our female Baltimore Oriole seem to be winning her battle with the fishing line. Somehow she has cut the line into manageable lengths and is using it to build her highly recognizable pouch-shaped nest.

She has chosen an outer branch high over the Milwaukee River for the privacy a
leafed-out tree will afford.

She feels confident enough already to dive into this flimsy pouch for more weaving and shaping to her precise body measurements...the beginnings of a new home for her 2016 brood.
Allan
Credits: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds, 
The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition

Fall Migration

The seasons are noticeably changing in Wisconsin. Cooler nights followed by crisper, shorter days have the birds moving again.

Canada Geese are the most recognizable birds overhead now. Constantly reorganizing their lopsided ‘V’, they make their presence known to each other and to us, too.

Honking seems to be their way of insuring inclusion in the group as they migrate south.

An osprey watches the Milwaukee River flow below. Long before ice will cover the river the ospreys will have departed.

Ospreys are known to migrate long distances and this one could easily be in South America for the winter. Ospreys need an ice-free environment to fish.

They fish with dramatic feet-first plunges into the water. Sharp talons and barb-soled feet hold fast a slippery fish.

When flying, they point the stupefied fish face-forward into the wind to reduce resistance.

It must be a surreal experience for the fish.

This Hermit Thrush was poised for a quick retreat if I came any closer. He looks to be a first year juvenile, newly on his own and unsure of whether to stay or go.  

Whichever and wherever, he will be leaving for the winter.

A ground foraging bird, the Hermit Thrush would find few resources in a snow-covered Wisconsin.

A Great Crested Flycatcher has caught a large aquatic insect, but his prey is putting up a struggle. He wants to eat it, but it won’t go down, so first he must tenderize his unmanageable mouthful.

Several well-aimed pile driver whacks on the head takes the fight out of his prey and the deftly dispatched delicacy is devoured.

This Eastern Towhee was passing through Wisconsin on his out-migration to somewhere else.

He stopped to inspect our lawn for seeds and whatever else he could find grazing in the grass.

The Eastern Towhee is a secretive ground dwelling bird. By planting both feet squarely in the leaf litter then hopping backwards, he drags a space clean, uncovering insects and invertebrates in the process.

He pounces on whatever he finds.

A young Northern Cardinal rapidly quivers his wings to his mother. She comes running with a seed to answer his call.  Now losing his downy feathers, this baby cardinal will be dependent on his parents for quite a while yet.
 

He could have picked up that seed himself, but he’s too young, too inexperienced or too unwilling to fend for himself.  Northern Cardinals are year round residents in Wisconsin.

A young Yellow-rumped Warbler caught a fly. It’s a tiny meal and it takes a lot of flies like this to satisfy even a small bird, but there are a lot of flies in the forest. Flies provide protein for birds.  A migration can be long and hard.  Protein is essential for birds and insects are the best source of protein for them.

A young male Common Yellowthroat preens and straightens his feathers. Preening is a daily exercise.

Yellowthroats are warblers that spend their winters in Central and South America. That is a long trip for this small warbler; so preening is important for warmth and fending off parasites.
   
You can tell he is a male by the dark patch starting to develop below his eye.

Common Yellowthroats are passing through Wisconsin right now. 

(Click any picture to enlarge)

The Monarch Butterflies are passing through, too.  Monarchs are so numerous they’re hard to miss. Monarch butterflies and wooly caterpillars are seasonal signs of the change.

The monarchs are on the way south, maybe all the way to Mexico.

Black-and-White Warblers don’t change much with the seasons.  They’re always formally attired in black and white. This is either a female or an immature male. Look for this bird hopping up or down a tree trunk.  Insects hide in the bark crevices, so that’s where they look for them.

If you miss the Black-and-White Warbler now, Florida may be your only chance to see another this year.

Fall is a special time in Wisconsin. The bird life changes almost daily. If you enjoy it, don’t miss it. It will be something to savor come January.

Allan

Migration Molt

The birds have been lying low lately…hiding out.

There are dramatic changes occurring in the woods right now and we're not invited to watch.  Down low in the understory, the birds are transforming into a less colorful presentation of themselves. 

It happens every year, shortly after the young have fledged.  Birds start to replace their bright breeding color feathers with fresh new ones, only now in more subdued shades.  Starting in late July and continuing into the fall migration, birds retreat to the thickets to make their migration transformations in private. 

When they come out there is a noticeable difference. These American Goldfinch are making the change now.

The Hermit Thrush normally has a  tail a third the length of his body.  Losing his tail in a molt would make him look more like this juvenile.  He could be at a disadvantage then, if he had to escape a raptor...I'm sure he senses that, too.   Catching his food  has to be more difficult with his limited flying prowess also, so lying low is his strategy. 

Hermit Thrush, May 2013

Feeling vulnerable while short-on- feathers, birds in general choose to remain hidden in late summer.  Being inconspicuous helps them survive this necessary transition. 

Cautious and careful, this Hermit Thrush flew away as soon as he saw me.

Birds don’t lose all their feathers at once; it’s a gradual process.  Feathers get worn, torn, lost and sun bleached. Summer and winter replacement cycles are necessary and predictable. 

Being largely uninvited to view the adults in transition, the young, on the other hand, have something to show off...their new colors. 

This 1^st year Northern Cardinal was changing from a multi-colored fledging into a bright red adult and seemed proud to show it off.   The Northern Cardinal is a year-round resident in Wisconsin and a welcome sight when everything else here is black and white.  

REMINDER: Click any picture to enlarge.

The male Indigo Buntings will lose a bit of luster soon, also.  This one is still quite blue, but he will become blotchy blue-brown as the season progresses…he’ll be in Central America by then. 

One bird that doesn’t change much from season to season is the Black-and-white Warbler.  Its black and white stripes are replaced with black and white stripes, so the transition is hardly noticeable.  For a bird whose nature is to forage up and down tree trunks of a similar stripe, he possesses the perfect camouflage.  

Finally, for a bird with common in his name, the Common Yellowthroat doesn’t deserve such disrespect. This one is a 1^st year juvenile just now developing the black mask he will wear throughout his life. It's true, he is common in one sense...he's widespread over North America.  He's not often spotted in the wild, though.  In that way he is similar to a bird in molt...secretive all the time. 

Allan 

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Credit: Sibley Guide to Birds

Warblers

When you see a warbler in a tree the first question you should ask yourself is, ‘Which warbler is it?"

Finding warblers passing through Wisconsin is easy now.  They’re colorful, common and curious as they bounce around the branches searching for newly hatched insects. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology lists eighty different species of warblers.  Ranging from olive drab to brilliant yellow…the warbler migration is a sure sign of spring.

The Cape May Warbler is a good example of warbler complexity.  The Cape May Warbler is multi-colored and multi-striped in bold patterns, but there are a half dozen other warblers that look similar.  It is a challenge to tell them apart.  Certainly, you don’t have to identify a warbler precisely to enjoy it. Knowing the differences is just more fun.

The Black-throated Green Warbler's size, shape and coloration is similar to many other warblers, but in a different order. You could drive yourself crazy trying to remember all the color combinations and patterns. Only experienced birders can do that well, plus they can recognize their individual songs.

The Black and White Warbler is one warbler no one should have a problem identifying.  He is black and white and boldly striped.  Watch for him along tree trunks looking for crawling insects. Few other warblers are this bold.

The Palm Warbler displays a more conservative look with a warm-brown back, yellow streaked breast and a small chestnut colored crown on top of his head.  Palm Warblers are abundant in Wisconsin right now, but they will soon leave for Canada. 

Yellow-rumped Warblers are very noticeable.  They may be the first warbler species you find in Wisconsin.  They are hard to mistake if you see them from the back.  They have bright yellow patches on their sides, one yellow stripe on the head and as their name points out, a yellow rump.

The Nashville Warbler doesn’t change colors significantly during the breeding season.  They look much the same all year long.  With a bright yellow breast and an olive back, they are passing through much of the United States at this time.  Look for Nashville Warblers high in the trees or low to the ground.  

You’re not likely to find a Canada Warbler at your backyard seed feeder. Warblers eat insects. Take a walk in the country or urban park to find one. Wisconsin is covered in warblers right now, but they're not here for long.

Allan

American Redstart & Black-and-White Warbler

There was a confusing mix of warblers passing through Wisconsin recently.  Many were so similar in appearance that only the experienced birder could identify them on the wing. 

But two warblers that are relatively easy to pick out of the flock are the American Redstart...

...and the Black-and-White Warbler. 

This female American Redstart passed over Wisconsin a month ago.  You can still see green leaves on the trees. There are occasional reports of new sightings of American Redstarts, but the migration is slowing.  I was waiting for my chance to photograph a male during this fall’s migration, but I couldn’t find one. 

This female put on quite a show for me though, flitting in the understory at eye level and slightly above, showing off her bright yellow tail patches and inviting investigation.  She wasn’t shy!  The male, which I never found, is black where the female is grey and orange where she is yellow. 

The Black-and-White Warbler is well named.  Heavily striped in black and white, it is hard to come up with a better name for it.  Unusually aggressive for a warbler, it will fight when necessary.  Equipped with a longer rear toe and claw for foraging in the trees, mostly it searches for insects, upside down and sideways.

Allan