Female Yellow Warbler

Wood Warblers belong to the family Parulidae, and as a group are described by Roger Tory Peterson as "Brightly colored active birdlets, usually smaller than sparrows with thin needled-pointed bills. The majority have some yellow." I include this excerpt from Peterson's field guide because the Yellow Warbler is the "buttercup" of all warblers, being extensively yellow.

The one pictured here is a female, who had the misfortune of slamming into a house window. I heard the hit and ran outside to find her on the ground, stunned. I scooped her up to inspect the damage, and finding none visible, placed her on this low tree branch to recuperate. My experience has been that birds who fly into windows either die instantly (from a broken neck) or recover after several moments to fly off. So I went about my business, checking periodically to see if she remained perched. (In my experience window "hits" are unusual for warblers, who don't "hang out" around houses as do seed-feeding birds who frequent backyard feeders. A simple way to avoid such unnecessary tragedy is to keep your bird feeders far from the house.)

After about 10 minutes, this pretty young female flew off and away, and I wish her well.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne