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The joy of the annual neotropical warbler migration.
Most of them are well on their way to nesting grounds in Canada's boreal forest.
"North America’s boreal forest, stretching from interior Alaska across Canada to the Atlantic Ocean, is the breeding ground for an estimated 3 billion birds and more than 300 species— nearly half of all bird species in the U.S. and Canada."
Please help preserve critical bird habitat and support the Boreal Birds initiative.
May 22, 2019, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.
Techincally spring is 3 weeks away but we won't be seeing the warblers for at least 5 weeks.
Setophaga ruticilla
The male American Redstart sometimes has two mates at the same time. While many other polygamous bird species involve two females nesting in the same territory, the redstart holds two separate territories that can be separated by a quarter-mile. The male begins attracting a second female after the first has completed her clutch and is incubating the eggs.
Source - Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Calgary, AB
I often see Redstarts during fall migration, but only about 1 in 20 are adult males like this one.
It was a dark and stormy morning ... and I was having no success photographing the American Redstarts in the last living vegetation on Fish Point. These birds bounce around like glowing ping pong balls, never stopping, always dodging behind a leaf or branch.
So I moved south a hundred metres towards the tip to try at the birds feeding there in the storm-washed debris. While as quick as their more northern friends, the sandy point had less greenery to get between the birds and the lens, so ... success!
Happily, Fish Point was acting as a giant funnel, corralling flying insects down its length and concentrating them at the very end. This Redstart and a few other birds took advantage of the phenomenon, and foraged at my feet on the bounty.
A strong fallout of these beautiful birds produced reports of "miniature orioles" in the gardens of Pelee Island residents. Seeing them was simple, getting photos much trickier. Even for a warbler they bounce around a lot.
Success finally came early morning at the tip of Fish Point Provincial Park, past where there was live vegetation. Two or three of them set up temporary shop in the downed brush at Lake Erie's edge and worked the area closely for insects. They were moving fast, but unafraid and unobstructed. With patience I was able to acquire a few images.
American Redstart, that is. The inspiration for the title came from The Ugly American, a best selling political novel published in 1958, later made into a movie starring Marlon Brando. That book is still in print.
This little guy is far from ugly. In fact, it is one of the most beautiful little birds we have around here. Although, in the tropics, it is known by some as the "latrine bird" because of its tendency to forage around outhouses and garbage dumps searching for flies. But, it is also known there as the Christmas Bird, most likely because of the brilliant, almost ornamental, black and orange plumage of the adult male and the fact that it is seen during the Christmas month in tropical regions.
It must be there for more than Christmas, though, or else it's a pretty slow flier, because it's one of the last birds to make it back here from down south.
AMERICAN REDSTART Female Setophaga ruticilla. This female American Redstart was observed foraging in trees along the Vía Cunuco, about one mile north of Mindo, in northwestern Ecuador at 9:38 AM on December 15, 2019.
The migratory American Redstart is a member of the New World warbler family Parulidae. It breeds in North America and winters from the southern United States to the West Indies and South America.
Una hembra de la Candelita Norteña Setophaga ruticilla está buscaba comida en los árboles por la Vía Cunuco unos 2 kilometros al norte de Mindo en el noroccidente de Ecuador a las 9 y 38 de la mañana el 15 de diciembre de 2019.
In Brazil, Setophaga ruticilla goes by the common name Mariquita--de-rabo-vermelho.
For OPTIMAL DETAILED VIEWING of this female American Redstart, VIEW AT THE LARGER SIZE (1553 x 1000) using the direct Flickr link: www.flickr.com/photos/neotropical_birds_mayan_ruins/49547...
Ste-Catherine :Petite pause lors de son acsension afin de s'éloigner des prédateurs ,la maman surveillait étroitement son petit gravir et bien agrippé à l'écorce de l'arbre. En lieu sûr ,elle est revenue avec quelques insectes ! (premier vol exploratoire hors du nid .)
Perched high on a limb
With the light a bit too dim
No tundra for him
Note 1: The day was mainly cloudy, with scattered sunshine. Therefore, I had to rely on Photoshop to improve a lot of very dark pictures.
Note 2: According to Wikipedia, Redstarts breed "in North America, spanning southern Canada and the eastern United States." So they don't go all the way north to the tundra or taiga like a lot of other migratory birds that pass through here.
The American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) is a widespread warbler. And being known far and wide, it has come to be known by a variety of nicknames, including the butterfly of the bird world, due to its fluttery motion. In some parts of the tropics, it has taken a less...pleasing...name: the latrine bird. There, it will often flit around outhouses, awaiting the feast of flies that are drawn to them. Yum! Thank goodness you're so cute, American Redstart; we won't hold your dining habits against you.