Pine Warbler at Whitnall Park

I was walking around the flowering trees at Whitnall Park, in the area leading up to the botanical gardens. For the most part, it was rather quiet. I found a few birds moving around in a pink flowering tree. I setup my camera and waited for them to get to my side. It was a Northern Cardinal, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, and a beautiful male Pine Warbler (PIWA). The Pine Warbler is easily in my top 3 for warblers! I have always loved seeing them and this year, it was my first male. I’ve only seen several females thus far. In previous years, this has been a good area for PIWA. They usually come through earlier in the spring and well before the trees are in full bloom. However, with the early spring, the apple trees are couple weeks early, which made for spectacular views! He was feeding constantly, and I watched him catch and eat several caterpillars and spiders. Just before exiting the tree, he started singing and then flew up into the pine stand and continued to sing for the next 30 minutes or so. I could hear him singing until I was out of range to hear it. Being this late in the spring for PIWA, I would think it is on territory in those trees. I will be keeping an eye out in the coming weeks to see if he is still around singing. Photos below are from the afternoon of 5/7. Enjoy!