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Jun 2, 2009 | by Kevin Loughlin
I have lived in King of Prussia, PA for over 40 years. I have birded every inch of the area and have found many great things in pockets of woods along the creek, Walker Run, which runs through my neighborhood and flows into the Schuylkill River about a mile away.
Baltimore Orioles, Cedar Waxwings, Gray Catbirds, American Robins and Northern Mockingbirds regularly nest in my shrub-filled yard and tall maple, cherry and evergreen trees. During migration, other species frequently visit my neighborhood and yard, including many warblers, if only for a few days.
Sunday, as I relaxed in my living room after the PA Young Birders field trip, over the sound of the TV I heard a faint, high-pitched tsee-tsee-Tsee-Tsee-tsee-tsee… … tsee-tsee-Tsee-Tsee-tsee-tsee… I ran outside and searched the Black Locust tree overhanging my driveway and finally there it was. The first Blackpoll warbler to visit my yard (at least when I was home to hear it)!
Had it not been for song, and my knowing the song, I would not have seen this little guy at all. Voice identification is very important for beginning birders to try to learn. At first glance the novice birder might mistake this typical view of a Blackpoll to be a Black-and-white Warbler. If you don’t know the voice, however, what do you look for to distinguish the two species?
Nearly all warblers, as with most birds, can be identified by the head alone. Always start there! Male Blackpolls (BP) have a bright, white cheek. The Black-and-white (BW) male has a black cheek, females and immatures have a dusky cheek. Look for other ques, too… BPs have yellowish legs while BWs have dark legs.
Behavior is also very important. BPs flit from branch to branch, typically perching high in the canopy gleaning insects from leaves. BWs feed as they zig-zag along branches, often upside-down, at any level, and are often seen in low branches or bushes.
All images with Canon 50D and Sigma 50-500 EX with Canon 580EX flash.
photo © Kevin Loughlin
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Another way to help identify warblers, especially as we have to look up at most of them, is to learn their undertail patterns. Most are different and some very distinctive. Jon Dunn and Kimball Garrett's book Warblers is excellent for this.
A
Glad you were fast with the camera. I don't ussually get that lucky.
http://www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com
As I always say… nature photography is 98% patience, 1% luck and 1% skill!