Nashville Warbler

 The Nashville warbler is a poorly named new world warbler. Rarely are these birds found near Nashville. They breed primarily in eastern Canada, the northeastern U. S. and northern Great Lakes. They winter in Mexico and northern Central America. In the spring and fall they migrate across the central United States on their way between breeding and wintering grounds. In 1811 Alexander Wilson observed one of these birds near Nashville during migration and subsequently named it the Nashville warbler.

 There is separate population of Nashville warblers that breed along the west coast. These birds were once considered a different species called the Calaveras warbler. Even though they look a little different and the western population will wag heir tail while the eastern population do not, the Calaveras is now considered a subspecies of the Nashville.

Nashville Warbler

 The Nashville warbler was named back in 1811 by Alexander Wilson when he first observed them near Nashville Tennessee. Unfortunately the name does not fit well since the only time that you can find Nashville warblers near Nashville Tennessee is during migration. Nashville warblers breed in Canada and the northern United States. During the winter they migrate to southern Texas, Mexico and Central America.

It is likely the birds that Wilson spotted were adults. In this species the juvenile birds tend to migrate along the coast while the adult birds choose a more inland route. There are two distinct and separate subspecies of Nashville warblers. The ruficapilla subspecies is found in the eastern half of North America. The ridgwayi subspecies breeds along the west coast of North America from northern California to southern British Columbia. This subspecies is a little brighter and used to be considered a separate species, the Calavaras warbler. Both species prefer deciduous forest or bog habitat. They eat insects which they glean from low branches and shrubs.

Nashville Warbler

The Nashville warbler is a wood-warbler that breeds in southern Canada and the northern United States. They migrate for the winter to southern Texas, Mexico and Central America. They were named by Alexander Wilson who first observed them around Nashville,TN in 1811 while they were migrating. Migration is the only time that the Nashville warbler is near Nashville.
Most of the Nashville warblers breed in the east half of North America. However there is a population that breeds in western North America, northern California, Oregon, Washington, western Montana and British Columbia. This population of Nashville warblers was once considered a different species called the Calaveras warbler. They are brighter then the eastern population with more white on the belly and a longer tale.

Minnesota Valley NWR Warbler Walk

On Saturday evening the rain finally stopped, the clouds began to break up and the sun made a rare appearance. Even though it was already almost dinner time I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and headed over to the Minnesota Valley NWR. I was hoping to have a chance to photograph some warblers. We have been seeing yellow-rumped warblers for over a week but reports were starting to come in about other warblers in the area.

Taking pictures of warblers can be very tricky, because of their small size and constant movement. Fortunately the trees here have not yet begun to leaf out which makes it a bit easier to find and photograph them, but as you can see in this picture of an orange-crowned warbler the trees will be spreading their new leaves soon.

One of the more rare warblers that I spotted was this black-throated green warbler. He was searching a pine tree for insects when I came down the path. I did have to turn up the ISO to get a picture in the low light, which is why it is not the best picture, but I was just happy to see one this year.

This Nashville warbler was high up in the tree tops. It did not seem very concerned about the strange guy with the big camera below it. It may have just come in that night, warblers typically migrate at night then spend the day foraging for food, and was hungry for a long flight.

The best shots that I got were of a black and white warbler. I have taken black and white warbler pictures in the past but they usually do not turn out very good. This time the bird was pretty close, traveling up a tree trunk the same way that a woodpecker or nuthatch would, and in good light which helped me to get my best black and white photos to date.

There were also other birds around. Down at the ponds there were several types of ducks. Along the shore great egrets and a solitary sandpiper were wading through the water in search of dinner and rustling through the leaves I found a lot of white-throated sparrows.

Bird Banding at Carpenter Nature Center

Every Friday the folks over at Carpenter Nature Center catch and band birds. On the last Friday of the month they open up the banding to the public so that ordinary people can get a close up look at the birds and learn how and why people band birds. Birding has been a bit slow lately, on most trips I just keep seeing the same birds, and we just got a bunch of snow dumped on us so I figured that watching the banding would be a different change of pace. So today after I got of off work I stopped over to check things out. The snow seemed to bring the birds out, as quite a few birds were caught while I was there, even though the variety was not that unusual. Most of what was banded were juncos with a vicious female cardinal and a redpoll being the exceptions. Even though I did not really take any pictures I did have fun talking with people who have spent a lot of time looking at birds close up and in great detail.

This was not my first visit to see the banding, I try to go 5 or 6 times a year, so I do have some pics that I took back on September 26th. Each fall we are lucky to see both white-crowned and white-throated sparrows as the migrate from Canada down to the southern United States.
The field sparrow is a common resident in Minnesota, except during the winter, which is why they are frequently caught and banded.
White breasted nuthatch are year round residents but they are not caught as often during the winter. This is mainly because during the winter birds are trapped using ground cages which are less likely to catch birds like nuthatches. During the warmer months mist nets are used to catch the birds, and they are much more likely to snare a nuthatch as it flies between trees or to a feeder.
Late September is a fun time to check out the banding because there are many different types of birds that are migrating through the area at that time. When Nashville warblers migrate south most of the younger birds follow the east coast while many of the mature birds will take a more westerly route.
An unusual catch this day was a brown creeper. While creepers can sometimes be seen on the trees around the park they banders typically only catch a few each year.
While the banding is always very interesting I never like to spend too much time inside when I am at an amazing place like Carpenter Nature Center. So I took a short hike around the grounds during a lull in the banding. I did find a couple of interesting birds to photograph that were very unlikely to be captured for banding, like this northern flicker.

I also spotted a passing turkey vulture. Since Carpenter is situated on the bluffs of the St Croix River just north of where it joins the Mississippi it is common to see raptors flying over. They usually take advantage of the air currents caused by the river bluffs to fly using less energy.

Warblers from Old Cedar Ave Bridge

Yesterday we left our hotel after breakfast, around 7am, and got into the park around 8:30am. We did not get back to our new hotel until after 8pm. It was a very full and productive day with great weather, black bear cubs, bison cubs, elk, grizzly, big horned sheep, American kestrel and a lot more. The weather is supposed to turn rainy later in the week so I am spending as much time as possible outside shooting as I can while the weather is nice. So hopefully I can put together a few more Yellowstone pics for you a bit later in the week but for now how about some swallows and warblers that I shot at the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge on May 11th.

barn swallow
Nashville warbler
black and white warbler

black-throated green warbler

I promise that I will have plenty of pics and posts from Yellowstone later in the week and when I get back home.