Warblers winging their way north

by KEVIN STRAUSS

Now is a good time to start looking, and listening for some of our most colorful and musical group of songbirds: the warblers. Warblers are 4-6 inch long birds with a “warbling” musical song and bright patches of yellow or orange, depending on the species. Each year in may, the northwoods become a hotspot for birders wanting to get a look at (and a picture of) the 25 warbler species that breed here.

The first warbler to arrive in the northland is the yellow-rumped warbler. This 5 1/2-inch long warbler has a dark blue-gray back and yellow patches on its rump, side and crown. Part of the reason that yellow-rumps are so quick to get here is because they don’t migrate very far south in the winter. While many warbler species migrate to the southern United States or to Central and South America. Yellow-rumps winter as far north as Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, so it is an easy trip back to the northland. Yellow-rumps can weather our spring cold-snaps by feeding on a varied dies that includes seeds, fruit and insects. You can find this warbler in evergreen (fir, spruce pine) or mixed evergreen/deciduous (aspen, birch, maple) woods. They prefer building their nests on spruce, tamarack or birch trees.

Another early season warbler to watch for is the 5-inch long magnolia warbler. This warbler is blackish above with white wingpatches and a yellow throat, belly and rump patch. These warblers are common in moist evergreen woods. Some naturalists describe this warbler as the “butterflies of the bird world.” Their bright yellow and white patches make them look like an artist painted them on the branches of a pine tree. These birds spend their time searching for food on the lower branches of evergreens. They glean the tree bark for caterpillars, spiders and other “bugs” for its own food and to feed its young. Listen for this bird’s “weeta-weeta-weeteo” in the pine woods.

Common names for animals and plants are sometimes the result of human whim or accident. Magnolia warblers received their common name after ornithologist Alexander Wilson who first saw them on a magnolia tree in Mississippi.