WHOOSH-SH! WHERE DID THAT LITTLE BIRD COME FROM?

TIME TO THINK ABOUT WARBLERS AND GNATCATCHERS.

By Neil Stalter 

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Migration brings a rich variety of waterfowl and raptors to Florida every autumn. It also favors us with many smaller birds – sometimes ignored as we marvel at the herons and hawks. Our own Grand Harbor sanctuary always hosts a good number of smaller species. Many more simply land here for a day or two, fatten up, and head farther south to the Caribbean and South America.

Walk along a fairway or sidewalk and you’re sure to be surprised by one of several wintering warblers. They do not wear their gaudy breeding plumage shown in the birding guides. Instead, they dart by in a duller dress of pale green or a mix of gray and suffused yellow. Just to make their identification more uncertain, they barely sing in winter. A quick chirp or chipping sound is all you hear.

Our most common warbler visitor is the Palm Warbler. It is distinguished by an ever-wagging tail. It also has a quick, decisive hop rather than a walk, and is first noticed as it jumps into flight as you approach. Usually seen in small flocks of 5-10 birds. The mister has doffed his rusty cap that he sported in spring and summer and now appears drab and barely striped underneath. His call is a nondescript chick. The 5½” Palm resembles the Prairie and Pine warblers who are also about, but in much lower numbers.

The Palm Warbler is one of my favorites. That’s for a specific reason. As most birders know, the Cowbird is a despised species who deposits its eggs in smaller birds’ nests. When the unsuspecting owner of the nest begins to feed her brood, she discovers that the parasitic baby Cowbird quickly dominates and deprives its nest “siblings” of any food, starving the actual offspring. Well, that doesn’t happen to Palm Warblers. They hunt for a Cowbird nest, find it just after its egg is laid, and proceed to build their own nest right on top of the Cowbird’s nest. No baby; no parasite; no loss of warbler chicks.

Next most common is the Yellow-rumped Warbler. He shows little of his breeding plumage, but does offer an easy id feature.  Guess what? Yes, it’s his yellow rear-end patch when he flies. Can’t miss it. In fact, old-timers call this 5” warbler “Butter-butt” and you know why. Through this off-season, the Yellow-rumped emits only a low, flat sound of chep.

 

To leave the ground where both Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers spend most of their time, we find a small bird of the upper bushes and trees. We are used to looking for flycatchers whose numbers can be high during migrations. However, a related group of cousins demands a place on our life lists – the gnatcatchers. To be sure, they are smaller and fewer in both size and counts. But, if you walk along a tree-line or have need to hunt down a wayward golf ball, you might find a fidgety little Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.

This is a year-rounder, and gains a bit of population in winter as mid-Atlantic birds come south. He measures a bare 4” and that makes this gnatcatcher easy to miss. He quickly flits about in bushes. His tail is constantly flicking as he leaps from sprig to ground and back. The soft wedgewood blue makes a graceful presence. In early spring, its brood of 4-5 chicks debuts. The diet, as you might guess, is virtually 100% small insects.