Warblers - the birder's obsession

Birding in Presqu'ile last week a pair of curious dog walkers stopped to chat. It was the Warblers and Wimbrels weekend in the park and thousands of people flooded in hoping to enjoy the great weather and see some 'warblers'.

The regulars were there - well worn binos and Tilley hats they were in small groups or mated pairs.

The out of towners from Toronto, Ottawa and Quebec were obvious as they tended to carpool and be in larger groups.

But most interesting for me were the novices that followed the guided park hikes. There you see everything from grand-dad's massive WW2 nautical binoculars to those that are hopeful enough to expect to capture a warbler on an iPhone.

I may be smug about their naivetee, but 4 years ago I was doing the same thing. Hopefully somewhere in those groups of bored kids dragged along by their parents are the seeds of the next generation of birders and environmental stewards. I am hopeful but mostly pessimistic as there is a culture change of seismic proportions occurring that makes the outdoors alien and uncomfortable to a generation.

So back to my dog walker's question  -- what are all of these people watching? They knew that they were watching birds and they could see the Robins moving around --- but no one was watching those. Everyone seemed to be looking in directions where there was no visible life.

'Warblers' I said, 'they are looking for warblers. and they are very tiny'. A quick explanation about migration and that people were trying to identify the many types of warbler, sent them on their way but I'm not convinced that they really understood why so many seemingly sane people, would spend hours peering into trees.

No other kind of birding has the ability to reduce grown men and women to frantic maniacs, willing to risk Lyme Disease and expensive visits to the Chiropractor in order to have fleeting glimpses of these 'jewels of the forest'.

It helps if the first warbler that you see is one of these.

Blackburnian Warbler (male) Prince Edward Point, Ontario

..... or one of these

Magnolia Warbler (male) Prince Edward Point, Ontario

I did have the pleasure of watching the reaction of a group led by the Park Naturalist, where many observed their first Warbler, a male Magnolia feeding at eye level less that 5m away. I knew that some of them will be back.

There are many spectacles of birding where the attraction is more obvious. The incredible variety and numbers of aquatic birds in the Mississipi Delta, the mass of Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska, the colourful tropical birds that can be seen on a tour of the rain forests of Costa Rica ... all have their charms, but if you are a birder in Southern Ontario, the 2 weeks in May when the warblers are moving through is an event that trumps them all.

 Of the 50 warbler species in North America about 30 may be found in the East by the most persistent and luckiest birders. Remember Easter Egg hunts. Did your parents make them easy to find or did they actually put some in places that were not so obvious. Which was more fun?

So it is that every year birders try to find and identify as many of these elusive creatures as possible.

All warblers are not so elusive. The Yellow Warbler seems to advertise from every branch and makes no effort to hide. The Yellow Warbler has a wide range from southern Mangrove swamps to northern thickets. In Canada, it is one of the main victims of the parasitic Cowbird, but in spite of that it is holding it's own. When a Yellow Warbler discovers a Cowbird egg in it's nest it builds another on top and lays another clutch dooming both it's eggs and the Cowbird 's. However sometimes the parasitic egg is not detected with disastrous consequences.

Yellow Warbler Presqu'ile Provincial Park, Ontario

Some take secrecy to the extreme like the elusive Ovenbird.

Ovenbird Prince Edward Point, Ontario

Another ground dwelling Warbler without the word Warbler in it's name is the Northern Waterthrush. These two are well camouflaged as they need protection from ground predators.

Northern Waterthrush Bon Echo Provincial Park, Ontario

Most warblers are on their way to the vast expanse of Canada's boreal forests but not all. Some do breed in the southern regions of Canada like this American Redstart. You will likely see many nesting Redstarts over the summer but don't expect to see the brilliant colours of spring as, like many warblers, once the business of attracting a mate is out of the way, they moult into their drab plumage which is more similar to the female.

American Redstart Prince Edward Point, Ontario

Another local breeder is the Common Yellowthroat who's 'witchity witchity witchity' can be heard in marshes throughout Southern Ontario. The male maintains his mask throughout.

Common Yellowthroat Prince Edward Point Ontario

Warblers are primarily insect eaters and their long pointed bills are an adaptation to that. The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the few that can adapt to eating berries and that gives it a huge advantage.

While most Warblers have to time their arrival and departure to the availability of large quantities of insects, the Yellow-rumped can linger well into the fall and is the first to return as it does not have to go as far south.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (fall) Moira River, Belleville, Ontario

Here is the Yellow-rumped Warbler in it's drab fall plumage. All male warblers shed their colourful spring plumage after they have attracted a mate, making identification during the fall southward migration much more challenging.

In the spring, the warblers arrive at different times depending on how far south they went in the winter. The earliest arrive in late April and the latest in mid to late May.

One of the latest to arrive is the Blackpoll Warbler which makes an incredible journey over the open Atlantic Ocean. While most migrate either from the Southern United Stated or from South America over the Gulf of Mexico and then northward over the continental land mass, the Blackpoll launches from Venezuela and flies non-stop until it arrives in the US Northeast or Nova Scotia. Blackpoll Warblers often land on ships in the open Atlantic for a brief rest.

Blackpoll Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

The Blackpoll is not to be confused with another bicoloured Warbler the aptly named Black and White Warbler. This is one of the easiest Warblers to spot as it creeps close to the tree trunks picking at the bark - unlike the Blackpoll which flits around.

Black and White Warbler Presqu'ile Provincial Park, Ontario

Not all warblers are colourful.  Tennessee Warbler is fairly bland shades of grey, white and olive but what it lacks in colour, it makes up for in it's vocalization.

Tennessee Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

Other common Warblers include two with rufous sides distinguished by the colour of their 'cap'.

Bay-breasted Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

The Bay-breasted Warbler has a rufous cap while that of the Chestnut-sided Warbler is bright yellow.

Chestnut-sided Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

There are the Black-throated warblers  Green and Blue.

Black-throated Green Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

Black-throated Blue Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

the Cape May Warbler and Northern Parula

Cape May Warbler Prince Edward Point Ontario

Northern Parula Prince Edward Point, Ontario

 The Cape May Warbler is unusual in 2 unexpected ways. Firstly it has the largest clutch of eggs of any Warbler. This is presumed to be an adaptation to it's primary food source - the Spruce Budworm. In times of cyclical Budworm infestation, there is sufficient food to allow most of the chicks to survive causing a corresponding increase in the Cape May population. Of course efforts to control the Spruce Budworm by aerial spraying can have a devastating impact on all wildlife but especially the Cape May.
The other unusual feature is that the Cape May Warbler has a hollow tongue adapted to feeding on Nectar. This proves valuable in it's winter grounds where there are no Spruce Budworms but lots of flowers.

Is there anything more beautiful ... if everyone could only see them.

Unfortunately Warblers don't come to feeders or make themselves visible. Instead they flit around like tiny ghosts in the dark canopy or the boreal or in the interior of marshes.

We really have just one opportunity (or two if you count the drab return in the fall) to enjoy most of them as they pass through our area of Southern Ontario..

Some warblers are rarer than others (at least in this vicinity) and are the prizes for the iterant warbler hunters.

I always found the Canada Warbler elusive and this picture high in the canopy is where they always seem to be (for me).

Canada Warbler populations are in steep decline due to loss of habitat. They tend to breed in the understory of mixed forests especially in damp or wet areas. Clearing for agriculture and drainage of wetlands are responsible. Like the Blackpoll, the Canada Warbler is a late arrival, migrating from it's wintering ground in the north western South America.

And my all time favourite catch is the Golden-winged Warbler that I found in Presqu'ile.

Golden-winged Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

The Golden-winged Warbler, like many others is in decline, but not for the reasons that you would expect. The Golden-winged and Blue-winged warblers readily hybridize producing a wide range of characteristics which are lumped into two groups "Brewster's" Warbler caused by a first generation cross and "Lawrence's Warbler" caused by recessive genes in a second or greater generation back-cross. As the range of the Blue-winged moves northward (due to Climate Change) the area of intersection between both species increases and the amount of hybrids also increase. Eventually (after several generations) the characteristics of the Blue-winged dominate and although there is some Golden-winged DNA, the later generations are identified as Blue-winged.

Here is the only shot that I have of a Blue-winged Warbler (and not a very good one).

Blue-winged Warbler Prince Edward Point, Ontario

These are just a few of the Warblers that pass through our area. The one thing that really drives birders into a frenzy is some uncommon Warbler, like a Yellow-throated Warbler seen at Presqu'ile last week and Kentucky Warblers that have been popping up from place to place.

For some it's an obsession and they try to see more each year. For me, I just like playing hide and seek in the trees and trying to coax some decent images out of the fast moving 'shadows'.

No one does this better than Garry Kirsch. Garry manages to get great photos of at least 22 kinds of Warbler every year. Many birders count more, fleeting glances, a bit of song - but 22 good photos is quite an achievement. You can read about it here.

I could go on an on listing more and more but that was not the intent of this post. If you are reading this, you are probably a birder already and since I am a relative newcomer, you probably know a lot more than me.

I just wanted to share my own discovery and hope that others can be inspired to discover as well.

You may also want to check out my own Warbler photos here.