Warblers

Changde Wu    2018-11-18

New World Warblers, scientific name Parulidae, are the only song birds found in America. They are smaller than sparrows, most of them have yellow color, only eat insects, and do not visit people's yards. They mainly live in the United States and Canada in North America, breed the next generation, and winter in the southern United States, Mexico and the Caribbean in autumn. Usually they hide deep in the woods and are difficult to see. Only in the spring when they return to their habitats and in the autumn when they migrate to the south for wintering can we have a chance to see them clearly. The best opportunity to watch the migration of New World Warblers is in spring. One of the reasons is that they have to rush to the north to build nests and breed offspring. The time window is generally two or three weeks, so the chance of seeing them in the same place is high; another reason is that the colors of New World Warblers are vibrant in spring, and males and females are easy to distinguish and identify. But in autumn, the colors of the wings of Warblers have faded, and there is not much difference between males and females. In addition, the young birds have not grown up, so it is quite challenging to identify the species of New World Warblers.

These birds are difficult to photograph and identify. They are always busy, jumping around on branches, and stay in the same place for a very short time. People often have not seen the bird clearly before it flies away. Identifying them is a very challenging task because many of these birds have subtle differences between species, there are also big differences between males and females, and adults look different from young birds. In addition, warblers are in mating season in the spring, and their feathers are very colorful. In the fall, the same bird has lost its former color.

This article is a summary of the warblers I have photographed in the past 10 years, and will be supplemented as I continue to shoot. The shooting locations are all in the northeastern United States, mostly in spring, but also in late autumn. In the spring of 2025, I made a special trip to the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Ohio and photographed species I had never seen before. This article presents a total of 23 species photographed in the United States, and two species photographed in tropical areas, a total of 25 species.

(1) Warblers in North America

P1 American redstart, Male

P2 American redstart, Female

P3 Bay-breasted warbler, Male

P4 Bay-breasted warbler, Female

P5 Bay-breasted warbler, Juvenile

P6 Black-and-white warbler

P7 Black-and-white warbler

P8 Black-throated Blue warbler

P9 Black-throated Blue warbler

P10 Black-throated green warbler, Male

P11 Black-throated green warbler, Female or Juvenile

P12 Black-throated green warbler, Female or Juvenile

P13 Blackburnian warbler, Male

P14 Blackburnian warbler, Male

P15 Blackburnian warbler, Female or Juvenile

P16 Blackpoll warbler

P17 Blackpoll warbler

P18 Canada warbler

P19 Canada warbler

P20 Cape May warbler, Male

P21 Cape May warbler, Female or Juvenile

P22 Cape May warbler, Female or Juvenile

P23 Chestnut-sided warbler, Male

P24 Chestnut-sided warbler, Female or Juvenile

P25 Common yellowthroat, Male

P26 Common yellowthroat , Female

P27 Golden-winged Warbler

P28 Golden-winged Warbler

P29 Magnolia warbler, Male

P30 Magnolia warbler, Female or Juvenile

P31 Mourning warbler

P32 Mourning warbler

P33 Nashville Warbler

P34 Nashville Warbler

P35 Northern Parula, Male

P36 Northern Parula, Female or Juvenile

P37 Palm warbler

P38 Palm warbler

P39 Pine warbler

P40 Pine warbler

P41 Prothonotary warbler

P42 Prothonotary warbler

P43 Tennessee Warbler

P44 Tennessee Warbler

P45 Willson’s warbler

P46 Willson’s warbler

P47 Yellow warbler

P48 Yellow warbler

P49 Yellow warbler, Male

P50 Yellow-rumped warbler, Frmale

P51 Yellow-rumped warbler

(2) Warblers in Central America

P52 Slate-throated redstart

P53 Buff-rumped Warbler

Sparrows and Finches

Woodpeckers