Migrant Warblers, Here they Come and How to Help Them

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Palm Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Migrant Black-and-white Warbler, often thought of as the upside down warbler because of its habit of foraging upside down on tree limbs and trunks (don't try this at home). Palm Warbler with a nice lunch and female Prairie Warbler preening after crossing the Gulf of Mexico. These migrants find a big welcome at the Sanibel lighthouse park, which has ample native vegetation for food and cover. Sanibel's policy is to landscape public places with native vegetation and for homeowner's to keep native vegetation on their property! So, if you want to attract birds to your property and provide for migrants coming though, landscape with native vegetation!!

The Warblers Are Coming to You!! Are You Ready?

Palm Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Warbler mania is about to hit much of the middle and northern part of the country. Already beautiful warblers, such as this Palm, Black-throated Green, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, are being spotted in New England and other areas. Look for migrating warblers in forests, river corridors, nature preserves, parks and even your backyard! To identify warblers see our new The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern and Western Regions. Happy Warbler Watching!

Palm Warblers Are Migrating Now

"Yellow" subspecies of Palm Warbler photographed in NH in fall

"Western" subspecies of Palm Warbler photographed in winter on Sanibel Island, on the west coast of southern FL

In addition to many sparrows such as, White-throated, White-crowned, Song, Chipping, Swamp and Lincoln's Sparrows we have migrating through here in NH, there are some Palm Warblers, top photo above. These late migrating, beautiful warblers have yellow breasts and deep yellow undertail coverts. They constantly wag their tail up and down, a nice giveaway to their identification. These bright "yellow" Palms are the eastern subspecies of Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea) and breed from central Quebec east. They winter along the Gulf Coast, from LA to northern FL.

The "western" subspecies of Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum palmarum) breeds from Ontatio west, across to parts of the Yukon and ne. British Columbia and winters in the Southeast, down through south FL. Some may also winter on the West Coast. This subspecies has very little yellow on the breast but still has the bright yellow undertail coverts. There is a breeding zone south of James Bay where they intergrade. So this gives you some idea of why Palm Warblers may look different, depending on which area of the country you are in.

We enjoy watching the Palm Warblers on our property forage near the ground in the goldenrods along our "warbler edge", the edge of our field that faces south, and is the place where we see the most warblers in spring and fall migration.

For more on the subspecies of Palm Warbler as well as how to identify fall warbers, see our The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, the best-selling photographic field guide available.

Photographing Warblers with Canon SX 50 HS camera

Palm Warbler. AV, 1/1600, f5.6, ISO 400 -2/3 exposure compensation.

100% digital zoom ratio

Here's another shot of the same bird.

Here is the first photo before it was cropped.

Yup, I can photograph fast moving warblers with my new Canon SX 50 HS point and shoot super-zoom camera. That's what I found out this morning when I followed this fast moving Palm Warbler through the tree on Sanibel, FL, where they winter. Someone had commented to me that the real test of this camera will come in spring migration. I am encouraged and impressed with this camera. Getting any kind of decent photo of a warbler moving through trees is an accomplishment. It tests the photographer's and camera's abilities. These photos were shot in .jpeg and only sharpened slightly, nothing else done.
Palm Warblers are a common wintering warbler here. Look for their yellow (sat in mustard) undertail coverts, so nicely shown in the first photo, as a good ID tip.