Bay-breasted & Blackpoll Warblers in May ’22

Jeremy2 Comments

These two warblers are a little more uncommon than most, but still seen throughout migration. Bay-breasted Warblers are beautiful, with their striking combination of colors! They are also hard to hear for a lot of people, because their song is a series of very high pitched, szee or teesi notes with the final note being accented. BBWA are usually found in the evergreens, and that is where I found most of the ones, I saw this year. The golf course at Warnimont has many groups of evergreens mixed in throughout the whole course and can be very good for them. That is where I found the majority of them this May. The high day for them this year was 5/15, when I had 14. Blackpoll Warblers can be found anywhere. Their bright orange legs really stand out, especially against their black and white body. I don’t have a special place to find them. I see them high in the canopy and low in the shrubs or in evergreens as well. They have a higher pitched song, but I find its louder than most and easier to hear. I often think they are closer than they really are. Their short song gently fades in, increases in volume, and then fades back out, tsit tsit tsit TSIT TSIT Tsit tsit tsit. BPLW are definitely easier to find in the fall, when it seems like every other warbler is a Blackpoll. The high day this spring for them was also on 5/15, when I had 8. Photos below are from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Bay-breasted Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Northern Parula & Yellow-throated Warblers in Spring ’22

Jeremy8 Comments

These two are stunning! It was an excellent year for both of them. My best day for Northern Parula was on 5/11 at Warnimont Park, when I saw 35. They were everywhere that day! The rising buzzy trill was ringing through the park that day. A very loud song for a small warbler. If, you get to see a Yellow-throated Warbler in Milwaukee County, it’s always a bonus. This spring there were at least 4 of them, with the first sighting at Greenfield Park on 4/20. That bird was very cooperative and seen by many in the birding community. Then on 5/8 another was found at Warnimont Park and a couple days later another at Sheridan Park. On Sunday 5/22, one was seen singing at Whitnall Park, and I think it has been there for some time now. Maybe it will stay there? I grouped these two together because they can interbreed. In this rare case, it is called a Sutton’s Warbler. One of these was seen and photographed in Dane County on 5/6. I almost went out there to see it, and I wish I would have. Oh well, next time… Photos below are from the last month in the Milwaukee area. Enjoy!

Northern Parula

Yellow-throated Warbler

Pine, Palm & Yellow-rumped Warblers in Spring ’22

Jeremy5 Comments

Pine

Pine Warbler is one of my favorites. However, I only saw one male this spring, and only a handful of females. Since they are an early arriving one, it’s possible they just went past us with our strong SW and SSW winds the several nights in late April. The one male I did see was by the Grant Park feeders, which is probably the same one that stops there every year. There isn’t much to say about Palm and Yellow-rumped. They arrive early and before you know it, there are hundreds of each, as was the case on 4/26 at Warnimont. These are the two most common warblers in our area during migration. Photos below are from the last several weeks in the Milwaukee area. Enjoy!

Pine Warbler

Palm Warbler (western)

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Nashville, Tennessee & Orange-crowned Warblers in Spring ’22

Jeremy2 Comments

Every spring, I see a lot of these warblers, both male and female. All three have all been in the Milwaukee area since 4/25, when we had favorable SW winds over the weekend. They showed in good numbers that early too. 4/26 was a big day for these three as warblers as well and I had 8 Nashville, 13 Tennessee and 45 Orange-crowned, including 2 of the gray-headed sub-species. These three continued to have a strong presence all the way through the spring migration and on 5/11, I had 47 Nashville, 31 Tennessee and 14 Orange-crowned. This was several days early for the huge Tennessee push and a week late for big numbers of Orange-crowned. Never a good sign to have that many Tennessee Warblers that early, because they represent the back end of migration. The photos below have been taken in the Milwaukee area since 4/25. Enjoy!

Nashville Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

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

Blackburnian & Cape May Warblers in May ’22

Jeremy2 Comments

I love these two warblers! Ha, who am I kidding, I love all warblers! Blackburnian Warbler is probably my second favorite though. Blackburnians were plentiful this spring and I had 22 of them on 5/11 at Warnimont Park. These can be found almost anywhere, but especially like flowering trees and evergreens. These warblers are harder for many to track down, because the song is high pitched. The main song is a rapid zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip titititi tseeeeee, with the final note much higher pitched, so high that many people simply cannot hear it. A less common song, teetsa teetsa teetsa teetsa, is heard mostly when males encounter each other. Cape May Warblers were scarce this spring. In fact, I don’t think I saw a male in breeding plumage! I had a first-spring male, that was still getting his colors and all the rest were female. Quite unbelievable really! They are usually quite common and easy to find along the entrance to Warnimont Park, along Sheridan Drive in the evergreen trees. Also, at Lake Park in the evergreens on the golf course. Then later in the spring, you can find them in any of the flowering trees. I’m not sure what the deal was this spring though, they must’ve been pushed a different direction with the winds on their big migration night. The most I had for one day was 3 on 5/11, and every other day I was out was one or zero. Photos below are from the last few weeks in the Milwaukee area. Enjoy!

Blackburnian Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Mourning Warblers in May ’22

Jeremy2 Comments

This was a very good spring for Mourning Warblers in the Milwaukee area. Whitnall Park produced several along the creek corridor at Wehr as well as other places along the creek in the park. This is almost a guarantee every year, so if you miss out on the Mourning Warblers, check Whitnall any time after the May 10th. It’s also the best place to photograph them, as they are within 25′ of you at most times, foraging on the opposite side of the creek. They can be quite skittish, so be patient and avoid a lot of movement. This year however, my best views came at Warnimont Park, when I found one hopping around the pine trees near the 4-way intersection, on the NW corner of the archery range. I was walking with a friend over to the pines and it jumped out right in front of us, paying no attention just feeding in the grass. I was like, “woah, a Mourning Warbler!” So, we sat on the ground and watched it for about 25 minutes. It came so close to us at one point, that it was too close to focus on. My minimum focus distance is just over 14′. It was feeding the same way the Kentucky Warbler was at Sheridan Park, hopping in and out of the evergreens. I was also lucky enough to see two females this year, one at Lake Park and the other at Grant Park. The female has a broken eye ring and pale throat. Photos below are from the last few weeks at various Milwaukee County Parks. Enjoy!

Golden-winged, Blue-winged & Brewster’s Warblers in May ’22

Jeremy6 Comments

These warblers are spectacular when seen in the field, especially the male GWWA with his strong face pattern. I usually have the GWWA warblers feeding on the ground, picking through dried curled up leaves, looking for spiders. This year was no different. Warnimont Park is my favorite to find them doing this, in particular behind the archery range, just north of the golf parking lot. If you don’t see them on the ground, their song is quite easy to pick out, seee-bzzz, bzzz, bzzz, which is quite loud and easy to track down. on 5/11, I had 9 of them at Warnimont Park. The BWWA is usually higher up in the trees, but I also have them feeding on or near the ground as well, similar to the GWWA. This spring I was lucky enough to have a BWWA come down right in front of me and take a bath in the creek at Whitnall Park. Splashed around a bit and up and away he went! Warnimont Park is usually loaded with BWWA’s and I had 6 on 5/11. Although I didn’t fair as well as I usually do with them and photos. They are also easy to track down by song, as it is a very loud beee-bzzzzzz! They often seem like they are closer than they really are. The Brewster’s Warbler is a hybrid between the two species. It is the more dominant trait and is quite common where the species overlap. Brewster’s Warbler looks like a GWWA but has the black line through the eye like a BWWA. The one I saw this year at Warnimont, came on 5/11 and was the prettiest one I’ve seen. There was a lot of white on the throat, which really added to the overall coloring. Surprisingly, I see this sub-species just about every year and I’m always excited when I do. Someday, I would really love to see the Lawrence’s Warbler, which is the recessive trait of the two. Photos below are from the last few weeks in the Milwaukee area. Enjoy!

Golden-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Brewster’s Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warblers in May ’22

Jeremy4 Comments

Usually, I do very good with this species each spring, but this year not so much. I saw a decent amount, but they just weren’t very cooperative. Whitnall Park is an excellent place to see them and the one male I saw was singing quite a bit. Minutes later I saw a female bounce past, which explains all of his singing. Then both of them disappeared and I never saw them again. I have no idea where they went! I even walked a mile down the creek and still nothing. I didn’t spend too much time this spring at Whitnall though, as Warnimont was just so much better. I can’t be everywhere at once! Photos below are from the last few weeks in the Milwaukee area. Enjoy!

Umm… Some Privacy Please???

Jeremy8 Comments

I was also fairly lucky with some warblers bathing, right in front of me. Lake Park and Whitnall Park are usually very good places to view this behavior. Whitnall Park has a creek that runs through it and is accessible in many areas. Lake Park has ravines and most of the time a small stream of water running through them. The key to finding where they bathe, is finding protection near the water. By this, I mean they want to come down into a tree overhanging or next to the water, a small bush near it or raspberry vines that are thicker for examples. This way they feel protected at a vulnerable moment and have a hiding spot should there be any danger. In my experience, when one comes down, be prepared because more are coming and coming fast! It happens so quickly and poof, they’re gone! I’ve had up to 6 different warblers in one little pool before. A lot of times I just happen to stumble upon them bathing. However, if you have more patience you can choose to sit and wait, but it may take a couple hours before you get any action. The photos below have been taken the few weeks in the Milwaukee area. Enjoy!

Cerulean Warbler at Lake Park

Jeremy6 Comments

In addition to the Connecticut Warbler being so cooperative yesterday, a beautiful male Cerulean Warbler put on quite a show for a few of us. I was able to locate it by song and watched it move along the trees to the east side of the locust ravine. There I was able to go up from the ravine and get some rather low pictures of this bird, that thought it was higher up. The bonus of having steep ravines! We watched it for about 10 minutes feeding on insects and singing his little heart out, bouncing around the branches. After that, he flew off to the east bluff, near the new bridge being constructed. I was able to relocate him about 45 minutes later, on the east side of the locust ravine again. It sounds like it was seen again today, though I never heard it while I was there. Maybe it will stick around a few more days. Photos below are from yesterday morning. Enjoy!