Male Common Yellowthroat Warbler
The field season has officially started in Northern NH!
Male Common Yellowthroat warbler (COYE): This fellow is defending a small territory in a patch of open thicket. These warblers rely on early succession forest- patches of substrate that haven't really grown in yet- to build cryptic, ground-level nests. They develop complex systems to divert/confuse predators away from their nests.
Female Black-throated Blue Warbler (BTBW): I was lucky to see this female. She is paired with a male who defends a large mature forest territory. They have quite a few BTBW neighbors, which makes for a lot of skirmishes among the males over land. The females are often silent and move very fast...
Male Mourning Warbler (MOWA): This is a rare bird here. Even more amazing, it is defending a territory in our research site- and trying to chase out a male COYE while doing so. The two species "share" resources, which means thy can't stand each other. 🙂 Each time the male COYE sings near the MOWA, it gets berated and chased away- and vice versa. It appears the COYE isn't budging either, probably because it hasn't had this domestic, neighborly problem before.
-Jess
Female Black-throated Blue Warbler
Male Mourning Warbler
