Saturday, July 9, 2011

Pine Warbler; Summer Warblers in Northern Illinois

A Pine Warbler, Rock Cut State Park, IL; 5/8/2011.
On May 8, of this past spring, while hiking in Rock Cut State Park, I had my best birding day of the year (so far) by identifying almost 60 species and the most warblers (10) than I ever saw before in one outing. Among the warblers were Northern Parulas, Yello Rumps ("Butter Butts"), Nashvilles, a Tennessee, Palms, a Black-throated Green, Yellers, Redstarts, Black & Whites, and by far the best look I have ever had at a Pine Warbler (Above), the last warbler in my "Warbler Week" series.
Pine Warblers, as you can guess nest primarily in pine trees. They are a bit larger than Yellow Warblers, and have less yellow on them. They have two white wing bars on darker wings. Although it is not very evident in the photo above, they have some olive-colored streaking on their flanks and a white belly and under the tail.
They pretty much stay exclusively in the eastern half of the country but extend south to the Gulf Coast and north into the southern regions of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.

SUNSET of the DAY
A Pierce Lake sunset, Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL; 6/16/2008.

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