Our birds: Warblers – part 2 – Our Habitat Garden

Black-throated green warbler (Dendroica virens)

I’m pretty sure of this identification. Like the other warblers, it flits around inside the bushes near the stream.

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Black-throated green warblers

Black-throated Green warblers in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

Blackburnian warbler (Dendroica fusca)

I’m pretty sure this is what I saw, but it’s always hard to identify warblers.

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Blackburnian warblers

Blackburnian warblers in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

Bay-breasted warbler (Dendroica castanea)

Here it’s in the clethra beside the stream where I spot most of the warblers.

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Bay-breasted warblers
- Am. Bird Conservancy: Bay-breasted warbler

Bay-breasted warblers in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

Blackpoll warbler (Dendroica striata)

When I first glanced at this bird, I thought it was a chickadee, but when I saw the rest of its body it was clearly something different. This one was hanging around in the clethra near the stream, as are most of our warblers.

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Blackpoll warblers
- American Bird Conservancy: Bird of the Week – Blackpoll warblers

Blackpoll warblers in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

Black and White Warbler (Mniotilta varia)

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Black and white warblers
- American Bird Conservancy: Black and White Warbler
- Lesley the Bird Nerd: VIDEO: The black-and-white warbler

Black and White warblers in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)

I first mistook this very active, small bird for a kinglet. But when I looked at the photos I had managed to snap, it had much more gold on its wings and sides of the breast than the kinglets have.

Once again, Merlin came to the rescue! I found that it was one of those tricky IDs — a female (or maybe an immature male?) that doesn’t look like the redstart I usually see in books, which typically show a male.

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: American redstarts
- American Bird Conservancy: Bird of the week

American Redstarts in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

Common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)

This and the yellow warbler are the ones I’ve seen most often. This is the very distinctive male bird.

Common yellowthroat warbler immature female

This (confirmed by a more expert birder than I) is a fall immature female.

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Common yellowthroats

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Common Yellowthroats in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

Wilson’s warbler (Wilsonia pusilla)

I had never even heard of a Wilson’s warbler when I suddenly after all these years spotted one in my yard. Without the help of Merlin, I never would have figured out what it was. It stuck around the yard for a few days.

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Wilson’s warblers

Wilson’s warblers in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]

Scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea)

A photo cannot show how vividly scarlet this bird is. It makes a cardinal seem dull in comparison.

Unlike the male in breeding plumage, I had to use Merlin to figure this one out. A lovely bird, though not as striking as the male.

Unfortunately, she was sampling our raspberries, but it’s a fair tradeoff for seeing this species!

Learn more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds: Scarlet tanagers

Scarlet tanagers in my yard [KEY: “·” = none seen; blank = I didn’t count birds that month]