Yellow Warbler

This is one of our most widely distributed warblers, nesting from the Arctic Circle to Mexico,

Raining Warblers

This morning on a rainy Labor Day my friend Jim Guinity called to see if I wanted to go birding. We checked out the shorebirds on Dunedin causeway first with most of the usual birds grounded in the rain. As the skies broke just a little we birded nearby Dunedin Hammocks where we will be banding birds in a couple weeks. We followed flock after flock of small migrants though the trees. Among them were Red-eyed Vireo, Tennessee Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, American Redstart, Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Barred Owl, Brown Thrasher and a few Flycatchers.

How I wish those birds would hang around but I know when their bellies are full in just a day or so they will be moving south with millions just like them towards their winter homes.

Yellow Warbler

  One of the first wood warblers to arrive in Florida is the yellow warbler. Nesting takes place in south Florida and the keys. They prefer mid-level red mangroves, laying 3-6 eggs per brood. Incubation takes about 11-12 days and the fledglings are able to take wing after 12 days. It is not know at present how many broods a year they raise.

Photograph taken near New Concord, Ohio.