Bird of the Week – Blackpoll Warbler
This post is a little late. Sorry. Realy good concert last night. The Blackpoll Warbler breeds in the Boreal Forest south of the Brooks Range and across Canada. It’s a very cool bird for several reasons.
First, its breeding and non-breeding plumages are so different that for many years it was thought to be two different species. Here’s a Blackpoll Warbler in breeding plumage along the Denali Highway.
Blackpoll Warbler, Denali Highway
And here’s a bird in non-breeding plumage, photographed by Tom Johnson off the coast of Maine in early October.
Blackpoll Warbler, off Maine Coast, early October. Photo by Tom Johnson via Birds of North America
Next, there’s the bird’s song, which is among the highest pitched of any bird in the world. It’s so high that many, if not most, birders over age 55 can no longer hear it.
And this tiny little warbler makes an epic migration, some flying straight from the Canadian Maritime provinces across the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to the northerly shores of South America. The birds nearly double their weight to about 16 grams before starting the long distance flight, and lose about half that weight on the flight.
Camera geek stuff: f8, 1/250, ISO1000.
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
Thanks a bunch A Pi..would you believe..I could hear 2 diff. sounds-bits. It was high..and it reminded me of a sewing machine line..as the chrps..Zapped.in tidy segment..then..quiet..then..another. Most excellent..now consider myself..further ‘taught’. Now I go back to the Idit. and my heart is with the dog teams..as they race through the coldest ever race. Blessing..and survival..strong hearts.to the dogs..and their..Persons.
🙂
them lil birds have an amazing sound , don’t they?
and the dogs?
they are almost there.
go Pete Kaiser!!! ! If a Mike Williams, Sr or Jr, is not running Pi is watching Pete and his dogs.
bless the dogs
As best as I can figure, sightings of these lil birds are rare here in SE Alaska . ( Thank you Bob Armstrong for your Birds of Alaska book! I still don’t know much but way more than the days before I carted your book around with me)
Am guessing if I ever did see em I mistook them for a pine siskin in my I -don’t -really-know-the-difference kinda way.
Thank you WC.
You got pine martens,pine seedlings,pine siskins and porky-pines. How do you keep all them bird calls sorted out? (mikey shaking his shaggy head in disbelief or utter amazement,whichever is the least offensive to my Northernmost friends) 🙂 🙂
them dang “pine seedlings” are grown up trees, mikey
” Pines growing in muskegs are stunted and very old.”
http://www.fs.fed.us/fallcolors/2014/blogs/muskeg-tongass.shtml
(kinda like me :-)! though I’m only sorta old and not yet very old )
We keep the calls sorted out thusly:
Pine martens are quiet lil boogers, the better to sneak up on their prey
Pine “seedlings” whisper of seasons long past and dreams on the wind of tomorrows
Pine siskins sound tweet
Porky-pines do some squeaking but sightings of them by gardeners are mostly punctuated by tons o expletives…
🙂 🙂
Them there tufted bullrushes is shore pretty.Could use some of them around here for color other than green.
They are pretty, aren’t they?
The dwarf dogwood is stunning autumn color-wise
http://www.astronomy-images.com/day-images/Alaska/dwarf-dogwood-in-fall-color.htm
And pretty dang lovely spring wise 🙂
Autumn color is all on the ground here- not in the trees.
I love, love, love our evergreen forest – the Tongass.
But I sure enjoy the autumn color of the muskeg and subalpine plants also too- even and as well
No freakin’ wonder it was..thought to be..two sep. birds. The pitch thing..that has my interest also..wish I could have one..’slid through a slot’..here at the puter..and listen..see if could hear it. Granted..I can look up a line of..bird calls..on the intertubes but..ya know..a ‘bird slot’..here..would be SO Cool! Hop to it kids… 😉
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blackpoll_Warbler/sounds
I guess we have to settle for the tubes…
Happy Pi Day, AKM!
Wow, what a cool masquerading bird! Who figured out it’s one species? Was DNA involved?
No reason to make a simple thing so complicated, Zyx. Not DNA. They asked its mother.
🙂