Showing posts with label Chestnut Sided Warblers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chestnut Sided Warblers. Show all posts

Sunday, October 13, 2013

A Bestiary . . . Tales from a Wildlife Garden ~ Featuring Warblers


Time does have a way of falling away from us . . . and so it goes that for nearly two years now I have been writing about the beasts that abide in our wildlife habitat. 'A Bestiary . . . Tales from a Wildlife Garden' is now featuring songbirds with warblers being the focus of my cursor. Warblers are truly delightful birds and come and go with the changing seasons . . . leaving us each late summer and fall only to return every spring . . . their departures and arrivals help us mark time . . . beginnings and endings of growing seasons.

I would be honored if you clicked and scrolled over to Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens to see more images and learn a bit about these brilliantly marked birds. There are twenty-three installments in all but you can pick and choose which you might like to visit. Before the birds I did write about the mammals that roam around and about our twenty-one acres of forest, fields and gardens . . . not lions, tigers and bears but you can awaken bobcat, opossum and bears if you like. 




The labels below reveal the names of the six different warblers framed within this collage . . . perhaps you can match them up. Their little lives here at Flower Hill Farm so enrich my life and I do feel their absence both in the silence of songs and the stillness within the branches of trees and shrubberies. Revisiting our encounters through writing the Bestiary is a joyous way of recalling all of the remarkable wildlife I am so blessed to share this land with. There are more warblers, other songbirds then hummingbirds to write about before I move on to other beasties . . . like butterflies and bees.


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Lilac Time


























Lilac time is here
Though days are wet and dreary
Tight buds open full

Bold colors shout out
Within the wash of greening
Dripping lilacs sway

The sun will return
Orioles and warblers sing
Gardens welcome light


Friday, May 13, 2011

Spring Stretching Towards the Sky Bird Return Update


Inside Top Garden Looking Northeast Lavender Lilacs and Yellow Oaks


Mighty Oaks Join the Chorus of Spring 


French Lilacs and Viburnums Outside the Top Garden Looking East


In the Blueberry Field Looking East/Northeast Towards Carey and Walnut Hill


Waving Weeping Cherry Towards Gray Birch


Old Apple and Gray Birch In Blueberry Field


Apple Gateway to Blueberry Field


Magnolias and Weeping Cherry


Middle Veggie Garden Viburnum Looking Towards Top Garden


Middle Garden Nest Box and Crabapples "Three Graces"


Looking Towards Crabapple Orchard and North Garden


South Field Looking East Towards Walnut Hill


Nest Box with a View


A Male Chestnut-sided Warbler has Returned!




Songs Fill the Garden Air


Magnolia Warblers are Back!


Common-yellow Throat Warblers Found Their Way Home Too!




Graceful Female Yellow-rumped Warbler Has Joined Her Mate

Male Baltimore Oriole and His Mate Below Returned a  Few Days Ago


Female Baltimore Oriole 



Cool days keep spring fresh
Yellow-green flowers dangle
Trees light up the hill

Sunlight catches form
Beauty blossoms, leaf and plumes
Billowing in air

Warbles, chirps and tweets
Crowning dawn with fluid joy
Symphony of song

Spring caresses love
All life swells with hope into-
Imagination 






Sunday, March 6, 2011

Birds in Review Part XXIII 'A Bird Parade' Chestnut-sided Warbler





Buds and birds will return soon and I will welcome both with a joyous heart! To continue the on going parade of Flower Hill Farm birds, I would like to introduce another striking warbler. Chestnut-sided Warblers (Dendroica pensylvanica) have been choosing this habitat for many years now. 


Chestnut-sided Warblers can be sighted high up in the trees such as this Rock Maple, or in lower shrubs like the Blueberries below. 


The songbirds particularly enjoy the Blueberry bushes and one day I happened upon a bit of a duel between two Chestnut-sided males. The only 'deadly weapons' they hold would be their sharp beaks, but truly they do not fight to the death.



These images of male pursuing male clearly shows why these birds have the given name of Chestnut-sided Warbler. A streak of chestnut or reddish-brown is like a brushstroke painted along their side. 



Breeding males will not tolerate one another within a small territory. The bright yellow-green cap they wear is enhanced here by the sunlight.



Eventually they will settle down . . . and get on with the more important business of spring.



 Singing their tiny hearts out to attract a mate is what both little warblers would rather be doing. One of their sweet songs is a series of high pitched notes that some hear as "pleased, pleased, pleased to MEETCHA." Many birds have more than one song and do improvise, as well as, have a variety of communicating calls. The Yellow Warbler I introduced earlier has a very similar voice to the Chestnut-sided Warbler. When I hear their melodious twitters in the gardens, it is most confusing trying to determine the warbler the song belongs to. Only by seeing, whilst I am hearing can I be certain.



 The female Chestnut-sided Warbler does not have the solid chestnut streak but dons small patches of the hue. She also lacks the bolder black lines through her eyes and face. She, as with most females of the bird population, simply prefers a duller frock. Note the two yellowish wing bars.





Like other warblers the Chestnut-sided Warbler enjoys gleaning the leaves and blossoms of shrubs and trees for insects. 





A female Chestnut-sided Warbler seems quite relaxed in this moment . . . 



until . . . she notices my large black eye upon her. Then she stretches into a more concerned form. 







For the end of the Chestnut-sided contingent, a male beautifully displays his vivid patterns and prowess for hunting arachnids. I so look forward to the return of green and these precious garden friends.


For now this is what our March looks like, though today is warmer with rain and melting snow!


Most winters bring about some tragedies in the gardens and landscape and this one is no different. It is particularly hard to see my beloved native Black Cherry ('Michael's Tree') lose half of its canopy. I wonder if the Baltimore Orioles will nest there again or might they feel the tree is greatly altered. They usually nest on the far side of the remaining canopy. Of course my greatest concern is for the long lasting health of this beautiful tree. 

The Bird Parade marches on in my next several posts. 

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