Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Prothonotary Warbler

For this week's World Bird Wednesday and Nature NotesI have more on the Prothonotary Warbler. The Prothonotary is one of my favorite warblers. Mainly because of its beautiful yellow color. I love colorful birds. They look similiar to the Yellow warbler, but the male Yellow warbler actually has red streaks down the front of its belly.

The Prothonotary nest in cavities like the woodpeckers holes. They like to be near the water or wooded swamps. They line their nest with mosses, sounds nice and cozy. An interesting thing I read about these warblers is that the fledglings can swim if they fall into the water when leaving the nest. I read that the male is a bright yellow-orange, but I say they look more yellow than orange. Their wings are blue-gray in color. The female has more of a white belly. And they have a heavy and spikelike black bill.

During our visit to Magee Marsh we were able to watch both the female Protonotary going in and out of the nest cavity. The male was nearby also, I am not sure if he was seen helping with the nest.


These photos are fuzzy due to the heavy cropping. I was not that close to the nest.








I hope you enjoyed my Prothonotary Warbler and to see more wonderful birds please click on my links for Springman's World Bird Wednesday and Michelle's Nature Notes.  Thank you to Springman and Michelle  for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my birds. Have a great week!

38 comments:

Sue said...

What a beautiful bird-I love the bright color. It's interesting that the young can swim if need be.

rainfield61 said...

I always love bright colors. It is a beautiful bird.

Kerri Farley said...

Oh my goodness ..... what a beautiful bird! I've never seen one "in the wild" before - only in pictures! You got some GREAT captures ..... and a wonderful experience too :)

TexWisGirl said...

beautiful!

diane b said...

He is the most gorgeous colour and your shots are great. I am continually amazed at how you can identify all the birds.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

I learn so much about birds from you, Eileen. Thanks for sharing more of the Prothonotary Warbler... Very pretty bird for sure...
Hugs,
Betsy

Anonymous said...

Hi Eileen, No, I have never seen one of these Warblers before seeing your nice pictures! I am sure you are glad to have taken the photographs. Have a very nice day today!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Wonderful following this beautiful warbler. We saw this bird when we spent the Winter/early spring season at Port Aransas TX. I was thinking about that Winter when I looked at your last post about this marsh....in Texas we saw all those migratory birds in April and very early May -- and then I guess they all head from there up to your house ;>)

jabblog said...

What a gorgeous little bird:-)

BirdingMaine said...

Very nice captures, even with the heavy cropping!

Fjällripan said...

What a beautiful little bird! So lovely yellow!

936000 said...

Oh I love the wee birds (yellow too). How cool that they can swim if they fall in! I thought of you this weekend when I had Macgillivray warblers at The Dirt Patch. I got a few pics, but haven't had time to blog about it...yet!! lol!
Your warbler is just gorgeous!
meggs.

Steve said...

Love the deep yellow color.

Anonymous said...

I love colorful birds too! This was an informative post, with good pictures of the warbler!

Carletta said...

Eileen, you always present such wonderful information on the birds you've photographed.
The yellow color is striking. The one in the third photo posed nicely for you.

Malgorzata Ingstad said...

Your warbler in green is wow! Really, little beauty.

Stewart M said...

Hi there - that really is a great looking bird - the bill (beak?) looks needle thin and sharp. You really do get a huge range of warblers in the US.

Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

NatureFootstep said...

such a complicated name for that sweet little warbler. :)

Caroline Lind said...

Colorful little bird, so lovely!

Anonymous said...

What a name for that handsome Warbler. Funny that I just heard the explanation for the name on the talkinbirds podcast the other day :)

Unknown said...

That third photo is a beauty!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

jeanlivingsimple said...

Goodness, What a stunning bird! I did not know that they were cavity nesters. Learned something new today.

Bill S. said...

Great pictures and post. The warblers are so much fun to watch. I can just see it flittering through the trees.

Jen Sanford said...

Beautiful bird! I've never seen one so I definitely appreciate the variety of poses!

Jenn Jilks said...

They are just gorgeous. I have found a new warbler, nest-building in a tree on our front. I'm waiting for a better birder than I to ID it!

Fotokarusellen said...

A great and informative post. A beautiful set of images. Wonderful work.

Springman said...

Magee marsh is sure being good to you Eileen! What a wonderful description you've written for this rare sighting. Amazing that you found the nest. ;-)WBW

Nancy said...

That yellow is stunning, Eileen. Wonderful captures! :)

theconstantwalker said...

Stunning colours on this beautiful bird.
Many thanks for sharing.

Victoria said...

The third image in the series is especially lovely! The sharp detail and the crisp colors of the mostly yellow bird against all that green foliage makes for a particularly marvelous composition! (I have two blogs... toryporter.blogspot.com is the one where I posted for World Bird Wednesday this week)

Amila Kanchana said...

What a beautiful bird! The third photo is an absolute winner!

SquirrelQueen said...

The colorful birds are my favorites too. This one is a beauty, thanks for all the information.

Bill S. said...

What a beautiful bird. I would love to see them. And you got some fantastic shots of them. Great work.

Anonymous said...

That's a beautiful little bird! Nice captures!

Inger-M said...

He's adorable, with beautiful color!

Caron said...

Wow, that's a VERY yellow bird! Very pretty.

Rambling Woods said...

I love to learn about a new bird.. I will have to go look and see if they are in this area of NY..Michelle

Leora said...

What a gorgeous bird. I saw the photo in Michelle's summary, and I had to express awe.

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