Spring Warblers 2018
I had a solid spring with warblers, and I wanted to share a few of my favorite images. Each year, I see about 30 or so species of warblers and I am able to photograph 20-25 that I feel are worthy of sharing. I will try to limit this blog to the top couple of each species photographed.
Of the breeding birds in PA, I missed a couple that I hope to pick up a few more of these breeding species in summer or during fall migration. Two species that are usually fairly easy for me are Yellow Warblers and Worm-eating Warblers.Surprisingly, I did not photograph either of these well this year. The following species were all seen but not photographed well, as they are much fewer in numbers and less cooperative: Yellow-throated, Blackburnian, Northern Waterthrush, Prothonotary, and my current nemesis, Nashville. Kentucky is a tough bird in my area, and I did not see one this year.
I did not have luck with true migrants. These birds move through quickly and glimpses of them often involve watching them feed frantically to support their long flights. Their frequent tree top feeding makes pictures much more difficult. The migrants can sometimes be picked up in fall migration, but the plumage is often different and sometimes more dull. The migrants I hope to photograph in fall include Bay-breasted (seen in spring), Blackpoll (seen in spring, tiny breeding population in PA), Cape May (seen in spring), Wilsons (not seen), and two very difficult species that I have never seen in PA: Connecticut and Orange-crowned.
This year I shared 22 species of the 29 that I saw. Here they are listed alphabetically:
(Above: American Redstart, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Black-and-white Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Black-and-white Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Black-and-white Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Black-and-white Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Black-throated Warbler, Sullivan Co. PA)
(Above: Black-throated Green Warbler, Luzernce Co. PA)
(Above: Black-throated Green Warbler, Luzernce Co. PA)
(Above: Blue-winged Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Canada Warbler, Luzernce Co. PA)
(Above: Canada Warbler, Luzernce Co. PA)
(Above: Canada Warbler, Luzernce Co. PA)
(Above: Cerulean Warbler Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Chestnut-sided Warbler Northampton Co. PA)
(Above: Chestnut-sided Warbler Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Chestnut-sided Warbler Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Common Yellowthroat, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Golden-winged Warbler, Monroe Co. PA)
(Above: Hooded Warbler, Northampton Co. PA)
(Above: Louisiana Waterthrush, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Louisiana Waterthrush, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Magnolia Warbler, Northampton Co. PA)
(Above: Mourning Warbler, Northern PA)
(Above: Mourning Warbler, Northern PA)
(Above: Mourning Warbler, Northern PA)
(Above: Norhten Parula, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Norhten Parula, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Ovenbird, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Palm Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Pine Warbler, Atlantic Co. NJ)
(Above: Pine Warbler, Atlantic Co. NJ)
(Above: Prairie Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Prairie Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Prairie Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)
(Above: Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lehigh Co. PA)