Families: Parulidae, Peucedramidae
New World Wood-warblers are small, active perching birds that are usually colorful. Most wood-warblers in the Americas are insectivores but some species feed on seeds, fruits, sap, and nectar. Many of these warblers are long distance migrators although there are some tropical species that stay in their ranges year round.
A few days ago I photographed a Yellow-rumped Warbler at a pond close to home that was tossing its prey around before it consumed it.
The Yellow-rumped Warblers are seen in high numbers here in northern Utah during spring and fall migration, these birds are migrating south now.
It has been a long time since I have had such a birdy day and the towhees, warblers, kinglets, gnatcatchers and the rest of the birds that I saw thrilled me all morning long.
I have my ears and my eyes to thank for finding the Yellow Warblers and their young foraging near a creek in a canyon.
Someday I will get the images I desire of these dainty Yellow Warblers. Bird photography is challenging and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Last week while I was photographing a handsome Green-tailed Towhee in the Wasatch Mountains a bright Yellow Warbler caught my eyes when it landed on a flowering shrub.
Yellow Warblers are so bright it is not hard to see them as they flit around gleaning insects from the trees in the Uinta National Forest.
The Yellow Warbler in my image was singing along a creek lined with willows and although the bird is small in the frame I find this image appealing because of the simple lines, the bird's pose and the wonderful eye contact the bird gave me as it briefly looked towards me.
I photographed this female Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata) by the parking lot at Fort De Soto's north beach a few years ago during migration.
Spring seduces me. Refreshes me. It whispers to me softly to come outside and savor nature and wildlife.
Though I quite often photograph birds so that they are what is labled "frame filling" I also like to compose images that show the bird or animals small in the frame.