“Wood Warblers” of the Mid-Atlantic States …
New Video/Slideshow presentation in Full HD, 1080P. Click the link/picture above to watch and enjoy…
Another avian adventure of “sight and sound” highlighting the past ten or more years of my warbler photography here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It’s presented in full High Definition, (choose 1080P) with files of a much higher resolution downscaled to fit the popular format.
The majority of the images were captured very near my home in our Hanover Watershed WMA , Maryland/Pennsylvania, just five minutes away, or the Michaux State Forest, just west of Gettysburg Pennsylvania, around a 30-minute drive for me. Some of the images were captured along the Kowomu Trail, just across the Mason Dixon line in Carroll County MD, along with a few others along Maryland’s eastern shore and coastal Delaware.
I have included the Bird Songs of each species along with the images captured by various recordists, including some of my own to add a bit more “life” to this presentation, The next time you take a stroll in your favorite forest, this may help you identify the species of warbler you are hearing, sight unseen. I hope you enjoy my efforts here.
Kissed by natural sunlight, Michaux State Forest, Pennsylvania
waiting the Spring warbler migration brings excitement and anticipation of my favorite of the avian species to photograph and spending time in my nearby forest to revisit the birds I love. Tiny and colorful targets of interest frolicking just above the forest floor, and throughput the dense mid to upper canopy create challenges of patience and light to the average photographer, but I have learned to adapt to these conditions well through the years and cherish the opportunities presented to me.
Breeding plumage male Black-throated Blue Warbler
he Black-throated Blue warbler is truly a favorite of the “New World” warblers and I never tire of photographing them as challenging as they can be just to locate and see, more-less actually capture their portraits. My process is comprised of slowly traversing the forest roads and listening for their song, and then just patiently sitting in my vehicle and waiting for an opportunity to have a visual encounter which more times than not can be futile.
“Lady with an Attitude”, Black-throated Blue Female
BTBW frolicking in a Rhododendron thicket along a stream…
ver the years of birding and avian photography within the Michaux State Forest, I have noted locations favored by certain species and kept documentation of my sightings and photographic success. Ironically, many of the species return to the same locations year after year, although perhaps not exactly to the same spot, but often within a circumference of 50 or so yards. And of course, this is based on ecosystems and habitats.
Quite the Camera Ham.,,, Female Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler, (Setophaga caerulescens)
BTBW Michaux State Forest, Pennsylvania
Black-throated Blue Warbler male in song
A handsome male BTBW going “Vogue”
More regulations were to follow with the timeline consisting of the following additions by year: 1966 Endangered Species Preservation Act authorizes land acquisition to conserve “selected species of native fish and wildlife”, 1972 – Eagles gain protection under Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the use of DDT was banned in United States by the Environmental Protection Agency,
“Mom and Pop”, Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area, Maryland
“Sunrise on the Maple Dam Marsh” of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
The refuge itself is expansive covering more than 28,894.35 acres, then adjoining the Fishing Bay Wildlife Management area virtually adding another 29,000 acres. The refuge has a Wildlife Drive which I humorously call the “Human Life” drive because in this day a time its more mimicking of a State Park. If you’re into watching people and socializing, it’s pretty much the place to be with joggers, walkers and bicyclist, not to mention sometimes heavy vehicle traffic enjoying the loop around the marsh and freshwater impoundments.
“Twilight Three Year Old” Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland
“Who Dat?”, Juvenile Bald Eagle along Maple Dam Road giving me a curious look…
“The Chase is On”, Conowingo Dam, Harford County, Maryland
“Overhead Youngster”, juvenile Bald Eagle at Conowingo
“Snack Time” with the catch above the Conowingo Dam parking lot..
I would like to mention one very “special person” by name, Karen Lippy, and she has sort of adopted the role of “Eagle Momma” as far as I am concerned. Her dedication to our local eagles is unmatched by any means by her consistent vigilance and concerns. She spends many of her days driving around and keeping a watchful eye on their welfare, especially their nesting progress and she posts almost daily reports to our local group on Facebook. I, like others look forward to seeing her out and about and meeting up for a conversation or two. Karen has also published children’s books on our local eagles as well and they’re quite interesting and most of all fun. Here is a “highlighted” 
Tri-colored Heron, San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge,
midst a mixture of old and new, I decided to put together a collection of some of my favorite “Wading” birds from my archives over the years and present them here in my Blog. These were captured from various locations, from the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, northward to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern coastal plains and marshes of the United States. Much of my time has been devoted to small songbirds and wildflowers most recently, so I thought it might be fun “look back” and reminisce a bit. These are not presented in any particular order, alphabetically nor chronologically…. Although not a Egret or Heron, but a member of the family Threskiornithidae, I included the Roseate Spoonbill simply due to its size and communal habits of roosting and socializing with species included herein.
Snowy Egret, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge,
Snowy Egret, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge,
f the Egrets, the Snowy is quite the “showoff”, especially while herding his prey or staking out territory. Rapidly prancing through the shallow tidal flats, wings spread is a common and comical sight. It’s “snow white” feathers, black legs and yellow feet create quite the visual spectacle adding to his clownish behavior.
Snowy Egret,
Snowy Egrets sparring, West Galveston Island,
Great Egret, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge,
Great Egrets “sparring”, West Galveston Island,
raceful Elegance fully describes this largest member of the Egret family in all of its snow-white splendor. Not as comical and aggressive as the Snowy Egret, but deliberate yet cautious while feeding and considerably slower and precise in movements. It hosts a lovely breeding plumage with the glowing green lore before the eye. A photographic challenge for exposure, but worth the extra effort.
Great Egret, San Luis Pass,
Great Egret “in flight”, Trinity River Island Recreation Area,
Reddish Egret, Houston Audubon Shorebird Sanctuary,
he Reddish Egret is truly the “showman” of the Egret family with its running, spinning with wings spread herding it’s meals. I’ve also found although cautious, this bird is one of the most “approachable” of the Egret’s in the wild. It displays two color morph’s maintaining them from juvenile to adult age. I have been lucky to observe and photograph both. Both morph’s presented here were photographed along the upper Texas Gulf Coast.
Reddish Egret, White Morph, San Luis Pass,
Great Blue Heron “portrait”, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge,
Great Blue Heron, Pinks Pond
imply the most widely photographed and common of our large wading birds is the Great Blue Heron with its vast distribution throughout the United States from sea to shining sea, and just about every wildlife/nature photographer, from hobbyist to professional will have at least one image or two within their portfolios. Amusingly, even with my large inventory of avian subjects, I have only a few, and not because I don’t see them, but finding an “attractive” specimen in pleasing surroundings can be difficult at times; and then, I’m usually “side-lined” by other subjects.
Great Blue Heron “on Ice”, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge,
Great Blue Heron “takeoff”, Yellow Breeches Creek,
Tricolored Heron “at sunrise”, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge,
ith the “comical” characteristic behavior of the Snowy and Reddish Egret’s, the Tricolored Heron is by far the most colorful, especially at sunrise as pictured above. These are so much fun to observe around other like species with their “cocky” attitudes, strutting and displaying, making holding the camera still by chuckling a chore. Thank-goodness for tripods! Truly a popular wading bird with photographers.
Tricolored Heron “on the prowl”, Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge,
Tri-colored Heron, San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge,
Little Blue Heron foraging, Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge,
Little Blue Heron, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge,
Black-crowned Night-Heron, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge,
Black-crowned Nigh-Heron, “Juvenile”,
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge,
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, “Juvenile”
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, “Juvenile” Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge,
Green Heron, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge,
Green Heron, Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge,
Green Heron “on the prowl”, Black Rock Flats,
Green Heron, “with a snack” Trinity River Island Recreation Area
Palm Warbler, Yellow (Spring) Setophaga palmarum. hypochrysea
Palm Warbler, Yellow (Fall) Setophaga palmarum. hypochrysea
Spring, Kowomu Trail, Carroll County, Maryland
Fall, Willoughby Run, Adams County, Pennsylvania
As far as breeding vegetation, the Palm prefers sphagnum bogs and fens with scattered cedar, tamarack, and spruce trees. The western Palm will also breed within the dry pine barrens of boreal forests which include ground covers of blueberry, bear-berry, and sweet fern.
Spring, Kowomu Trail, Carroll County, Maryland
Fall, Willoughby Run, Adams County, Pennsylvania
Fall, Willoughby Run, Adams County, Pennsylvania
Spring, Kowomu Trail, Carroll County, Maryland
Hooded Warbler male in song…
ou may be disappointed if you do a Google search for a “Warbler Road” in Pennsylvania as it “doesn’t exist”. However, you will find a listing for one in the State of Virginia which is actually a series of interconnecting forest roads traveling about 13 miles through the Appalachian Mountains beginning at Milepost 78.4 of the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Sunset Field overlook, then continuing to its end at the Arcadia Boat launch along the James River’ and all of these roads take on different and original names too. Like with Virginia, my Warbler Road, is just a “pet” name applied to a certain route or routes that traverse favorable and popular breeding habitats for a host of these small and often colorful songbirds.
Hooded Warbler female…
o without further delay, I will cut to the chase and “note” that “my” Warbler Road is actually Milesburn Road which can be accessed along PA 233, north of US30, and beginning just north of the Caledonia State Park and near the old dam breast of the reclaimed Chambersburg reservoir and travels approximately 7 miles north to its end and the junction with Shippensburg Road. Once past the popular Long Pine reservoir and junction with Birch Run Road, Milesburn becomes less traveled and more serene. Milesburn Road is gravel, but well maintained most of the year apart from winter periods with heavy snow.
irding and especially avian photography in our state forest system can be a challenge mostly due to the sheer volume of acreage and the dispersion of the different species throughout, unlike smaller and more condensed woodlands and parks where breeding habitat is limited isolating the birds. However, a little time researching the preferred habitat of your targeted species can bring success.
he subject of this post, the Hooded Warbler is no different from other members of the Parulidae family and has it’s favored habitat preferences to include the thick shrubby understory of our eastern forests. I have also discovered over the years that the Rhododendron thickets along small streams seem to be a favorite within the Michaux State Forest. “Warbler Road” (Milesburn) presents abundant opportunities for this habitat following a couple of small streams along its route in several areas bordered by the Rhododendron pictured in the image above.
inding the Hooded Warbler, or any warbler for that matter involves slow attentive walks or driving, constant listening and a lot of patience. Once you hear the song, visually locating the bird is another challenge. This warbler’s haunts are seemingly always under a heavy forest canopy, low light and within the thick of things, and they blend into their surroundings very well. The trick is to look for any movement within the foliage, even ever so slight, and to keep your visual scanning “low”. You will hardly find the Hooded frolicking or foraging more than 10 feet above the ground.
nother interesting thing with the Hooded Warbler, and like the Ovenbird, there really isn’t a perfect time of day to catch it in song. They seem to vocalize throughout the day, unlike most of the other warblers that tend to favor only the morning hours. I mentioned “driving” above which is one way I locate many of my avian subjects, by very slowly creeping along in my Jeep, all windows down and listening. I’m not sure is this is true or not, but ironically the sound of gravel under the tires while slowly moving seems to “trigger” a response from this species and perhaps even a few others. I know this is true with some of the rail species on the gravel roads of some of my favorite wildlife refuges in the south. True or not, I’ve located more birds with this method over time than taking long hikes in the woods.
hotographing warblers or any small bird under a “dark” forest canopy is not an easy chore and can at times be quite frustrating. It’s truly not a place for “sun worshiping” photographers who complain continuously about the slightest lack of perfect light. You won’t find a “Golden Hour” here either. But these conditions do provide a nice layer of “flat” light, void of any harsh shadows unless a ray of that nasty “sun-stuff” pops through a hole in the canopy which can wreak havoc on the camera’s metering for exposure.
arlier this Spring I attempted to capture a small bit of video of the Hooded in full High Definition and with sound of the warbler’s song. This was my first attempt at this and “somehow” I managed to accomplish a “down and dirty” version which I took into Adobe Premiere Pro, edited and mixed in a bit of eccentric and quirky music to accompany the warbles song. I must say it was fun! It’s filmed at 24 frames per second with a shutter-speed double the frame rate at 1/50sec. The ISO was 640 and was shot in C Log for a bit of a cinematic appearance. Captured with the Canon EOS 7D2 and the Sigma 150-600 Sports lens at 400 mm. Click on the Image below.. It will open a new and separate tab.
everal years back while photographing spring wildflowers and exploring one of my favorite mountain ecosystems along the Appalachian chain, West Virginia’s Dolly Sods, I kept hearing the song of the Magnolia warbler at just about all my stops along the gravel road that traverses the area through the stands of the wind-swept stunted Red Spruce to my amazement.. This was long before I did some research to discover their favored breeding habitat extended farther south than I had realized. I had seen many wearing their dull colors during the fall migration, even right near my home and the Hanover Watershed WMA along the Maryland and Pennsylvania state line.
hotographing a Magnolia warbler in breeding plumage had been a long-time quest and I thought I’d have to travel much farther north to accomplish it. I found quite a colony of them during that outing and luckily I had the gear along to capture a few images. I have since made quite a few trips to Dolly Sods fully dedicated to capturing images of this beautiful tiny bird.
he Dolly Sods Wilderness sits along the Allegheny Plateau and within the Monongahela National Forest with elevations ranging from 2,000 to well over 4,000 feet MSL and is monitored by the Potomac Ranger District. Access can be difficult at times, especially during foul weather and only by steep and sometimes rough gravel forest roads. Good trip planning with attention to the weather is a “must” during the early spring and late fall. It can be raining in the valley and snowing up in the Sods. The area is closed during the winter months to travel.
ronically, this warbler is seldom found in a Magnolia tree despite its name. Ornithologist Alexander Wilson, who had collected a specimen in 1810 from a Mississippi Magnolia, originally gave the bird the English name “Black-and-yellow Warbler” and “Magnolia” was used for the Latin species name, but “Magnolia” stuck as the English name as well from then on. The Magnolia is sometimes referred to as the “Spruce Warbler’ after its preferred nesting habitat which could have been a better name for the choosing, and like the Bay-breasted, Canada, Blackpoll, and Blackburnian Warblers, will take advantage of the periodic outbreaks of spruce budworms on its breeding grounds.
inding the Magnolia Warbler in the Dolly Sods Wilderness is not a difficult chore, even from along the narrow gravel road along the ridge top and where the majority of these images were captured. It’s a simple game of “stop often, get out and listen” among the Red Spruce stands, especially the more isolated ones. The most difficult part is spotting them within the thick needles of the spruce and they prefer to be close to the trunk of the tree. While in the open, their vivid color of yellow and black streaking on their breasts doesn’t help much on a bright sunny morning because the lower light angle can paint the needles a yellow glow helping to camouflage the birds at the same time, blending them right into the habitat.
owever, a nice bright overcast or obscured sky will add the touch of greenish-blue to the needles and make this warbler stand out. Another spoiler for locating this warbler can be the wind muting their song and the Sod’s can get quite a stiff fresh breeze on occasion simply due to the higher altitude above the nearby ranges. The trick is patience and keeping an eye peeled for movement within the needles, near the song and/or while foraging. Warblers hardly sit still for any extended period of time.
uring the fall migration and much closer to home, “only 5 minutes away”, the Hanover Watershed WMA has proven to be a productive location year after year for the Magnolia and many other warblers on their journey to the wintering grounds, and especially during “fall outs” due to inclement weather or unfavorable high winds. The tall pines offer protection and an abundant food source. The watershed is comprised of a Wildlife Management Area (MD) and adjoining tree farms belonging to the PH Glatfelter Pulp Wood company (PA). All of the property is posted, and any birding/photography can be done from the small and often less traveled gravel roads through the property. The watershed skirts the Mason-Dixon Line and sits in both the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
igrating Warblers, both during Spring and Fall, can be non-habitat specific until reaching their breeding or wintering grounds and can be found just about anywhere along their routes of travel resting and feeding. However, I have documented certain locations and “stops” they tend to favor and seem to be productive over the years for both photography and simple observation of a variety of species. I’ve begun to spend as much time with the binoculars as I do the camera in hand and find both equally rewarding.
Birds and Blooms 