Migrating birds stopped at the edge of the wild wild woods this week. On Friday, one Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata hopped around among the finches below the seed feeder. On Saturday and Sunday, several more appeared. A flock of 30 or so have been sharing the suet with our resident finches and sparrows.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/yellow-rumped_warbler/lifehistory these warblers are able to winter farther north than other warblers, sometimes as far north as Newfoundland, because they can digest the waxes found in bayberries. There are some bayberry bushes around here, but this is the first time we've hosted traveling Yellow-rumped Warblers.
