This morning I took my coffee out on my second-story porch (something I’ve longed after for a while, but haven’t been too successful in doing, because of the chilly temps.) The Sugar Maple tree near my porch has leaves that are just bigger than the fluff that precedes them, and it blocked the morning sun. (Just barely, it’ll be a better block as the leaves grow a bit more.) And all of a sudden, I noticed the comings and goings of tiny little visitors—my tree was filled with warblers!
The Black-throated Blue Warbler (above) was one I spied, but against the sun he looked all black. When he flew more beside me, was I able to see the blue from the black (but he was a much darker blue than many!)
The maple was filled with birds darting between the leaves (and the warblers are really small!) Getting a clear enough site meant you had to look for awhile. But I spotted a number of Goldened-cheeked Warblers. And most of the others had some gold or yellow on them. I know they’re many more of the yellow kind, but I just didn’t get clear looks (or close-up views) of the other varieties.
I did get a good look at a Black-throated Grey Warbler. He was flitting on the trunk of the tree (and not obscured by the leaves.)
Finally, the last one I identified was the Blackburnian Warbler. It’s easy to look at pictures of warblers and mistake this guy for some of the yellow or gold varieties, but if you see it, there’s no chance of missing that orange throat!
My cats enjoyed the sun on the porch, and the warblers were too small flitting in the branches to catch their attention (luckily). I had tons of therapy and charity stuff to do, but I enjoyed a couple of hours of just being, with the warblers!
Lead picture of Black-throated Blue Warbler by All About Birds, Cornell Ornithology Lab