Female Yellow Warbler with prey for her chicks – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The last time I was up in the Wasatch Mountains photographing birds I took a ton of Belted Kingfisher images and I still haven’t gone through all of those files but I have taken a look at the other birds I photographed. Among those photos I found a few that I wanted to share and tell the stories behind them.
Some of the Yellow Warbler chicks in the Wasatch Mountains have already hatched and a few have left their nests. I photographed one of those chicks but the lighting was awful because the young warbler was in the deep shadows of some willows but there was bright light behind it. Then the chick dropped down into the high grasses and disappeared from my view. I could tell later on that it had made its way through the grasses and into another stand of willows because its parents were busy bringing it food and I could hear its soft but insistent begging calls.
The male seemed to bring the young chick food more often than the female but he usually flew in low and was always partially hidden by the branches, trunks and leaves of the willow. The female Yellow Warbler often flew in, landed out in the open and then dove down to deliver the prey she had gathered to her chick that was hidden in the willows.
On other food delivery trips I could tell that the adults went to the nest to feed the chicks that were still in it.
The stand of willows appears to have hosted at least two Yellow Warbler nests this spring. One nest is lower in the willows and is situated on the south side and one nest is higher up and on the north side of the of the willows. I know this because I have watched the adults flying in and out of the willows and there have been times I have seen both male warblers flying in simultaneously and have had visual contact with both females at the same time too.
The Yellow Warbler female in this photo was bringing in food for her chicks that were in the nest on the lower south side of the willows.
I hope that the young Yellow Warblers made it through the cold snap we had here in northern Utah recently.
Life is good. Stay safe.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Yellow Warbler photos plus facts and information about this species.
What a softly coloured, beautiful and industrious charmer. Thank you. I share you hope that the birds survive and thrive.
Nice to see. a pretty picture.
Parenting, busy work.