Monday, May 10, 2010

Prairie Warblers

My favorite warbler species is currently abundant at Blue Jay Barrens. Prairie Warblers are colorful, musical, abundant, tolerant of humans and successful local nesters. They nest in many types of evergreen, including cedars and find the small prairie openings in this area to be the perfect breeding grounds. I look forward to their arrival every year.

Prairie Warblers respond very well to pishing. They are highly likely to come out to give you a look, but after satisfying their curiosity, they’ll go about their business and ignore you.

This female was busy hunting for food. She completely ignored my presence as she scanned the nearby branches for insects.

After locating a tasty morsel, she hovers nest to the site and plucks the insect from the branch. She seemed to be gathering larvae of some kind, but when I searched the branches, I could find nothing.

The male stayed near the female as she hunted, but he spent most of his time singing. It’s hard to walk the prairies of Blue Jay Barrens without hearing the song of the Prairie Warbler.

4 comments:

  1. What a sweet baby!! I just love warblers. They are just now beginning to arrive here in Cape Breton. I have a couple of Yellow-rumped that came ahead of the rest to check things out. We don't have many bugs yet! I enjoyed this post. ~karen

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  2. Thanks, Karen. There have been quite a few warblers moving through here. It seems to be more of a lazy migration, with a steady flow of travelers.

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  3. A beautiful warbler! We are in NC visiting my sister and I hear them singing when we go to Weymouth woods..I phished and one came out to say hello..
    Nice shots!

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  4. Thanks, Dawn. I think this may be the perfect warbler for people who want to see a colorful bird at close range.

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