Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Warbler Guy, I saw your San Francisco birding tours note you have seen nesting warblers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco Bay Area has warblers nesting here?

Horatio (in Sunnyvale, CA):

Yes, depending on your perch in the SF Bay Area, there's both resident, year-round wood-warbler species as well as neotropical migrants that return annually to nest here.

The following list, below, is a simplified, non-detailed overview of the nesters in Marin County without providing details:

(Note the * = nester as a spring/summer resident and # = a year-round nester that is resident year-round. In addition, it's important to realize that a few individuals of all wood-warblers in the Bay Area may persist throughout the non-breeding season (though the vast bulk of the * species vacate the Bay Area during the non-breeding season. + = non-breeding season resident only).

* and # Common Yellowthroat (with much of the area hosting two subspecies, including the CA Species of Special concern sinuosa subspecies)

* Yellow Warbler

* Orange-crowned Warbler (Note this species persists in small numbers throughout the "winter," but the large pulse of returning nesters begins in February and peaks in March.)

* Wilson's Warbler

* Yellow-rumped Warbler (ALSO note: LARGE numbers present during the non-breeding season at low elevations, but most of the nesters occur at higher altitudes in select Bay Area locations only.)

* Hermit Warbler

* Black-throated Gray Warbler

* Yellow-breasted Chat (extirpated from portions of its previous breeding range)

* MacGillivray's Warbler

Townsend's Warbler 

Regards to you Horatio and all warbler seekers of this special family....Daniel

warblerwatch.com (hosts my bird guiding and birding tour information via the "Birding Tours" section)

415-382-1827, Novato, CA






Thursday, March 10, 2016

Warbler Guy, I saw a nectar-drinking warbler at my feeder? Which warblers drink nectar? Warblers act like hummingbirds?

"Yes," Stevie (in Orlando):

Although it sounds strange, a few warbler species visit hummingbird feeders, including
Orange-crowned, Nashville, Virginia, Yellow, Black-throated Green, Prothonotary, and Cape May.



(Above, Orange-crowned Warbler feeding at a hummingbird feeder)

The initial above three species tend to have longer bills that are adapted to successfully obtain
the sweet elixir (that provides them supplementary carbohydrates beyond the protein-rich insects they seek).

Cape May, by the way, even gobbles jelly birders serve to tanagers and orioles in their yards — so be on the watch for warblers at your bird feeders, folks.

Or simply grab your binoculars and enjoy a walk down your favorite trail.

Look for our fine-colored feathered friends that winging their way north, with the imminent return of several likely in the southeast, Mid-atlantic, and, yes, even the upper Midwest where a few anomalous Yellow-rumped Warblers are already present (as over-wintering individuals or early returning migrants by the end of March/early April).

Happy birding to you, Daniel

warblerwatch.com {features several free birding information handouts (including some excellent articles by David Sibley) via my "Birding Links" area and information about my 25+ years of birding tours and bird guiding services (via my "Birding Tours" area)}