Chestnut-sided Warbler

The chestnut-sided warbler is a colorful passerine that is easy to identify. They nest in the southeastern half of Canada and in the north eastern and north central United States.They spend winters in Central America, Northern portions of South America and the Caribbean. each inter they often go to the same territory where they mix with tropical warblers and other birds in foraging flocks. Most of their diet is made up of insects.

Chest-nut sided warblers typically nest in deciduous forests. They make a cup shaped nest made of bark, grasses, and other plant material usually located in a bush or small tree within 6 feet of the ground. Immature birds do not have the maroon streak of their parents. I photographed this immature in northeast Minnesota where they bread. The top shot was taken during migration when they pass through southern Minnesota on their way to the breeding grounds.  

Spring Warbler Migration

 The winter this year has been long and daunting, especially compared with the extremely mild winter that we had last year. While things have begun to melt there is still a good amount of snow. In fact it was snowing again yesterday, although the rain today has melted most of the new snow. It will take probably another month before the lakes are free of the ice. This is not such a good thing if you are like me and half of what you photograph are insects. Last year at this time I was already out photographing flowers, butterflies and other bugs. This year it looks like at least a couple more weeks to a month before we start to see any insect life.

One thing that I am looking forward to this year is the warbler migration. Warblers usually migrate through here on the way to their northern breeding grounds beginning in May. Last year the trees were beginning to leaf out around the beginning of April so by the time the warblers came through the trees were full of leaves making it difficult to see the warblers, let alone get a decent pic. They also did not hang out long last year since the trees up north had already bloomed and they were full of bugs to eat. The winter of 2011 was similar to the one that we are having now. It held on and the trees did not begin to leaf out until May. There was a good week where I was able to go out every day and spot 15 to 20 different species of warblers, like the blackburnian and chestnut-sided warblers above. I am hoping that this spring will be similar. That will make the long wait worth it. 

Chestnut-sided Warbler

 The chestnut-sided warbler is a colorful mid-sized warbler that lives in North, Central and South America. They get their name from the maroon patch of feathers on the side of their bodies. The only other warbler that has this color feather on their bodies is the bay breasted warbler but the male bay breasted has the same color on its face. The female bay breasted does not have a maroon face, like the male, but can be distinguished from the chestnut-sided because she does not have the bright yellow cap.

Chestnut-sided warbler breed in the north eastern half of the U.S. and the south eastern half of Canada. They tend to nest in second growth deciduous woods. The nest is cup shaped and it is usually placed in a bush. Chestnut-sided warblers nest in the north east corner of Minnesota, which is where I photographed this first year bird. They migrate down to the tropical forests of Central America and northern South America for the winter. During the winter they will mix with flocks of tropical warblers often returning to the same flocks year after year.

Tuesday Tweets

The chest-net sided warbler is a wood warbler that is found in the eastern portions of North America. They nest primarily in eastern Canada. There are also nesting populations in the North East United States, the Appalachian Mountains, and the northern Great Lakes, which includes northern Minnesota. They usually nest in deciduous forest, forming a cup nest in low tree or shrub. The chest-nut sided warbler winters in Central America where it is usually found in flocks of mixed warblers in tropical forests.

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets. To join in the fun, just post a photo of a bird on your blog then come here and enter your information in the inlinkz tool down below. Don't forget to put a link back to here on your blog and the pretty little banner photo. Then visit all of the sites that participate to see a lot of cool bird pics.   

Tuesday Tweets

The chestnut-sided warbler is a wood warbler that breeds in the eastern half of Canada and north eastern portions of the United States. We do have a breeding population here in Minnesota in the north eastern part of the state. I photographed this bird last may as it was migrating north from its wintering grounds in Central or northern South America. During the winter they often mix in with flocks of tropical warblers.

Welcome to the second edition of Tuesday Tweets. We got off to a slow start last week but that means that it should not be too hard to find more people to participate this week. To join in the fun, just post a photo of a bird on your blog then come here and enter your information in the inlinz tool down below. Don't forget to put a link back to here on your blog and the pretty little banner photo. Then visit all of the sites that participate to see a lot of cool bird pics.

Itasca State Park.

Since we took a winter trip to Texas this year we decided that taking the annual trip to Yellowstone in May was a little more then we could afford. So instead of driving out to Yellowstone I headed up to the Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds in May. I have always wanted to go to this festival, the largest birding festival in Minnesota, but it always happens when I am typically in Yellowstone.

The festival basically lasts Thursday through Sunday but I only registered for the field trips and speakers on Friday and Saturday. One of the field trips that I signed up for was a trip to Itasca State Park. I wanted to go to Itasca for its history and significance almost as much as for its wildlife. Itasca was established as a state park back in 1891 which makes it the oldest state park in Minnesota and the second oldest state park in the US. The reason why it was designated as a state park is because Lake Itasca is the headwaters for the Mississippi River, the largest river in North America. The picture above is the actual beginning of the Mississippi. This is also considered a National Natural Landmark and is in the National Register of Historic Places.

Even though the day was overcast we did manage to see some birds. Common yellowthroats can often be found in vegetation near water. I found this one singing a territorial call near the headwaters.

At one point during the trip we hiked out into the woods, braving mosquitoes that were as thick as clouds and ticks, to try and find an elusive black-backed woodpecker. A few of us managed to catch a glimpse of one in the distance, I did get a couple of pics but I have much better pictures of black-backs already, but what I was excited about was the chestnut-sided warbler in the undergrowth near the side of the path. I have seen chestnut-sided warblers before but have never been able to get a picture, and I don't add a bird to my life list until I get a pic. With a little bit of patience he finally came up to perch where I could see him and I got to add another bird to my list.

I also did manage to catch a dragonfly also. I only was able to take a couple of pics before he flew off and I was not able to get any other angles so I am not certain what specific type he is other then he is probably a type of baskettail.