’23 Fall Warbler Migration

Jeremy6 Comments

Since I’m spending the last two weeks of October in Hawaii, the fall warbler migration is over for me. It turned out to be a very good one, with it starting earlier than normal for me. I had huge numbers of birds beginning very early in August (8/10) through the end of the month. My guess is it had something to do with the wildfires in Canada. I was pretty busy in August, so I had limited chances to get out. Because of this, I missed out on some fall birds, including my favorite, the Canada Warbler. I spent all of my time at Warnimont, Grant, Sheridan and Bender Parks this fall. I ended up with 25 species of warblers this fall. September started off very good for warblers, but then we got some terrible weather patterns for the next few weeks and had one major migration day after that, which I wasn’t available for. I was able get the two late passerines, Pine and Orange-crowned Warblers, just before I left. I would have been upset if I didn’t see either of those. It will be a long, cold winter waiting for the colorful little birds to return. Hopefully the owls cooperate in the cold months! The photos below are from early August through the middle of October, when I left. Fall warblers have so many variations of plumages. I try to capture as many as possible to show what you might see when out. The individual photos are labeled male, female or hatch year, if you click on them. Enjoy!

American Redstart

Bay-breasted Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Connecticut Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Northern Waterthrush

Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler (gray-headed sub-species)

Palm Warbler (western)

Pine Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

’23 Spring Warbler Migration

Jeremy16 Comments

Despite having terrible weather conditions in May, to produce huge numbers of warblers, I still ended up with 36 warbler species. I just didn’t have very many big days, like I’m used to. We were stuck with E, NE or N winds for the majority of the warbler migration, thanks to our “great” Lake Michigan! Of the 36 warblers, 35 of them were in Milwaukee County. The lone one outside of Milwaukee County, was a Painted Redstart that showed up in Sauk County. I missed one, a Black-throated Gray Warbler that made an appearance at Wind Point Lighthouse in Racine, and only because I was busy that day. Most of the county parks were just average at best. Warnimont Park was producing rather solid numbers most days, like usual and is still my favorite spring warbler park. One little gem, that was basically the county hotspot, was Shorewood Nature Preserve. This tiny little park, nestled between a couple mansions in Shorewood, hosted some great birds including, Worm-eating Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, multiple Yellow-throated Warblers, Prairie Warbler, multiple Hooded Warblers, and a Louisiana Waterthrush. All of those warblers are great for the county. Lake Park hosted a couple of Connecticut Warblers, like it usually does. Warnimont Park also a had several, however viewing is better a Lake Park for them. This is a very large gallery of photos, but warblers are my favorite and I spend a lot of time with them in the spring. As always, I try for male and female, along with first spring birds, to show the varying plumages between them. It’s tough to get them all though. All of the photos below are from Milwaukee County, with the exception being the Painted Redstart. Enjoy!

American Redstart

Bay-breasted Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Canada Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Connecticut Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Louisiana Waterthrush

Magnolia Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Northern Waterthrush

Orange-crowned Warbler

Ovenbird

Painted Redstart

Palm Warbler

Pine Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Worm-eating Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Sorry, no photos of these this spring, but I did see and hear them twice.

Chestnut-sided, Black-and-white, Black-throated Green & Magnolia Warblers Spring ’22

JeremyAdd comment

These four warblers are very common in the Milwaukee area during spring migration, and this year was excellent for them. All of them can be found almost anywhere. They are so abundant that I usually see males, females and first spring birds of each. I really enjoy photographing the different plumages of them all as well. Each photo in this post, as is in every post, labeled (male, female or 1st spring) if you click on them. This way you can check to see if you know the correct plumages of each. A Chestnut-sided Warbler arrived on 4/25, the first of the two consecutive fallout days at Warnimont Park. I think this will be a record early arrival for the state. On 5/11 at Warnimont, I had 45 of them and on 5/15 I had 32. Chestnut-sided Warblers sing short fast song sounding like, pleased, pleased, pleased to meetcha! I saw my first Black-and-white Warbler on 4/24, and numbers continued to grow until 5/11 when I found 27 at Warnimont. These warblers are usually found working along dead branches or tree trunks like a nuthatch or creeper. They sing a high-pitched, repetitive weesy, weesy, weesy, which may be difficult for some to hear. It is a very pretty song. I also saw my first Black-throated Green Warbler on 4/24 and my big day for them was also on 5/11, with 39. These warblers are constantly singing in spring and very easy to pick out. It is a rather loud, zee zee zee zee zo zee. I didn’t have my first Magnolia Warbler until 5/8 and on 5/11, I had 42 at Warnimont Park. I also had 33 on 5/15 at Warnimont as well. I find Magnolia Warblers, along with Chestnut-sided to have the most variable spring plumage, most likely because so many pass through the area. I see lots of females and first spring birds with both. Magnolia Warblers sing a very short song that is a whistled weta, weta, WETA, with last note being the loudest. All photos below are from the last 5 weeks in Milwaukee County. Enjoy! 

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Who’s taking my picture???

Jeremy18 Comments

This spring so many warblers have looked directly at me while photographing them. I will get them like that occasionally, but not like this year. It has been all of the warbler species too, not just a few of them. I’m not sure if they see the huge front element on my lens, that reflects back at them or if they hear the camera shutter clicking 10 frames per second. Either way I’ve found it to be quite funny how the photos turn out. Something different than seeing the normal profile picture. Photos below are from the last few weeks in the Milwaukee area. Enjoy!