Goldenrod Goodbye
Perched delicately on goldenrod blooms, this Nashville Warbler appears like a splash of sunshine come alive. With its soft gray head, striking white eye ring, and yellow breast, it almost glows against the September wildflowers of Minnesota. Though small and delicate, this warbler carries within it a remarkable story of nature, the call to migrate.
Unlike other birds that migrate overhead in noisy flocks, the Nashville Warbler journeys alone, without accompanying family. Each fall, it alights from Minnesota’s fields and forests to begin a solitary passage south.
Nights are its chosen hours of travel, when it is guided by stars and Earth’s magnetic field. At dawn, it drops into thickets and bushy hedges to glean insects and other foods. These rest and refueling pauses are essential, as without frequent fill-ups, the tiny traveler could not fly the thousands of miles that stretch between Minnesota and its winter home in Mexico and Central America.
Its migration is not hurried. Weeks may pass before this warbler reaches its destination, each mile a testament to the miracle of its endurance. Each bird follows its own inner compass. Bird scientists say that no family members accompany it.
Yet there is some kinship in the skies as they join ad-hoc flocks of other warbler species and small birds that share the same invisible highways, forming temporary associations.
(Photographed near Cambridge, MN)
Goldenrod Goodbye
Perched delicately on goldenrod blooms, this Nashville Warbler appears like a splash of sunshine come alive. With its soft gray head, striking white eye ring, and yellow breast, it almost glows against the September wildflowers of Minnesota. Though small and delicate, this warbler carries within it a remarkable story of nature, the call to migrate.
Unlike other birds that migrate overhead in noisy flocks, the Nashville Warbler journeys alone, without accompanying family. Each fall, it alights from Minnesota’s fields and forests to begin a solitary passage south.
Nights are its chosen hours of travel, when it is guided by stars and Earth’s magnetic field. At dawn, it drops into thickets and bushy hedges to glean insects and other foods. These rest and refueling pauses are essential, as without frequent fill-ups, the tiny traveler could not fly the thousands of miles that stretch between Minnesota and its winter home in Mexico and Central America.
Its migration is not hurried. Weeks may pass before this warbler reaches its destination, each mile a testament to the miracle of its endurance. Each bird follows its own inner compass. Bird scientists say that no family members accompany it.
Yet there is some kinship in the skies as they join ad-hoc flocks of other warbler species and small birds that share the same invisible highways, forming temporary associations.
(Photographed near Cambridge, MN)