Mrs. Yellow-rumped Warbler

I’m excited to see that there seems to be a MRS. Yellow-rumped Warbler in the old orchard next to my house.

I have been reading on the Birds of North America website about the warblers, they say there isn’t much known about these birds and their mating habits, but here’s some of what they do know.

Mid- to late-May is when they start working on a family. Nest building takes about 10 days and the woman does all the work.

After the nest is built, she begins laying her egg almost immediately. Two weeks later, the chicks are born. Two weeks after that, they start venturing out on their own. The male and the female take turns feeding their young.

The female Yellow-rumped Warbler is a toned-down version of her husband. A yellow stripe on her head, a lighter yellow throat and with yellow under the wings and over the tail.

Their diet consists of insects, for the most part. They either hawk or forage for them.

They are energetic birds and love to flit about in the canopy overhead. They are curious sorts, however, and if you make enough of a racket, they’ll hop down to investigate.

Punked by a Yellow-rumped Warbler

I get the idea that this guy is just playing with me.

He flitted around in the cherry tree, high overhead, always keeping branch and blossom between us.

If I didn’t know better (and, honestly, I really don’t know better), I’d think this guy was trying to get one over on me and keep me from capturing a great shot. He warbled his little warble as he jumped from branch to branch. Higher, lower, OOPS!, almost got me.

“What are YOU looking at?”

New Backyard Sightings: Savannah Sparrow, “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Violet-green Swallow and Eurasian Collared Dove

Five new birds sighted in just a few days time. The first four were sighted in one afternoon, on Friday. The dove was seen just yesterday.

The Savannah Sparrow (below) was a lucky shot. I turned around, saw a bird on a post, aimed, fired, and it was gone. I really didn’t pay much attention to the bird, I thought it was just one of my Golden-crowned Sparrows. I love finding those kinds of surprises when I get home!

I spent twenty minutes looking straight up at this little bird while he flitted away in the very tops of the alder trees along the Middle Marsh trail. I had no idea what he was, but I was bound and determined to get an identifying shot of him.

He is a “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler.

I was sitting at the edge of the South Beaver Pond looking over the water when a pair of Chestnut-backed Chickadees wandered over to see what I was up to.

They move so quickly, I have a hard time capturing their image.

This year is the first time I’ve seen Chickadees since I lived in Wilkeson near Enumclaw. I love those loud, little tweeters!

This Violet-green Swallow has a friend, they were snapping up the mosquitoes as I walked by. I was very glad to see them here!

This dove took me hours to figure out. I had assumed it was a Mourning Dove, because that is the only type of dove it even came close to resembling. But it isn’t, it’s a Eurasian Collared Dove.

It is an invasive species, just like the European Starlings are invasive. Ah well, I think he’s handsome.

I thought he was an owl at first, I heard him long before I saw him.