It’s All About the Warblers

Spring migration takes us into the woods and on the lookout for the Wood Warblers.  They are a group of small, colourful passerines who spend the winter in the south and return each spring to nest and raise their families.  Most of them are reliant in insects for food and we see them as soon as we see the flies, worms and bugs of spring.

With their return, the woods become alive with song and you can spot their bright colours throughout the woods from the very roots and the forest floor to the top of the tallest trees.  The males are more brightly coloured while their female counterparts are much more subtle.  You can see the yellows of the Magnolia, the flashy orange neck of the Blackburnian and the red patches of the American Redstart.  But don't be fooled the family also includes the much more subtle Black and White and the browns of the Northern Waterthrush and the Ovenbird.  

Blackburnian

Ovenbird - shaking all over! 

Text and Photos by REArvidson

Ron Arvidson is an Artist and Teacher as well as an avid Birder.  Ron is also an Administrator for Birding on PEI.