Bird of the Day: Yellow-rumped Warblers in a Surprising Place

Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) are one of the most common warbler species found in North America. I've had to work pretty hard to photograph them though, once at Chaw'se, and another time on the west campus. I saw one in the backyard very early one morning catching bugs near the porch light, but I didn't think much of it, since the only birds we've ever seen consistently are the finches and sparrows around the bird feeders.

I was working with the feeders today, setting up a branch for the birds to perch on while they fight for space at the nyjer sock (oh, and making for more natural looking pictures). I finished and sat down in a lawn chair a few yards away to see how the birds liked it (they did). I slowly became aware of movement in the Mulberry trees behind me. I looked over my head and realized there was an entire flock of birds moving about that weren't using the feeders, and not mixing with the finches. It was a bunch of warblers! After searching for the cute little birds in the Sierra Nevada foothills and all over the west campus, they turned out to be hiding in my own backyard.

If you are wondering where the name of the bird comes from, check out the all-too-common bird butt picture that I got this afternoon. You can see just a bit of yellow peeking out between the wings. My shot of one of the West Campus warblers a few months ago shows the yellow patch a bit better.