Blackpoll Warbler this morning, after yesterday’s rain.
Because their migration paths are different in fall and spring, we only see them here in spring, traveling from the Caribbean and South America north to the Canadian boreal forest.
National Geographic: Amazing: Tiny Birds Fly Without Landing for Three Days
Warblers that weigh about as much as a stack of 12 business cards fly thousands of miles across the Atlantic during their fall migration.
Warblers persist. This one is a female Cape May. I know that thanks to the help of members of What’s This Bird on Facebook.
Setting sun, leafless tree, warbler holding still… perfect conditions for the amateur photographer with a not-very-expensive superzoom camera.
Here’s a new warbler for me, a Blackpoll.
Males get a jaunty black cap in breeding season.
There’s something very special about these warblers…
Blackpoll Warblers are long-distance athletes and they hold the record for the longest overwater flight for a songbird. During the fall, these half-ounce warblers fly nonstop for up to 3 days, covering on average over 1,800 miles over the Atlantic Ocean to reach their wintering grounds in Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and northern South America. Such a journey requires that they eat enough before they leave to double their body mass.
And here’s another female Cape May, practically glowing in the warm sunset of spring in Florida.
