Yellow-rumped Warbler

The warblers are arriving in Aldea. Today a Yellow-rumped Warbler was in the backyard for a few minutes. Long enough to snag a few photos to prove it was here. I love it when birds like this just “show up”. It makes the day interesting and keeps me on my birding toes. 

This is the first time I had seen one in Aldea. Although they are one of the most common warblers in North America. They frequented our backyard during the winter months in San Francisco so I was familiar with them by the flash of their yellow rumps. The visitor today did not stick around long enough for me to get a bright yellow “rump shot” however.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are a medium-sized warbler with dark-streaked, blue-gray upperparts and the characteristic yellow rump. Throat and belly are white and breast is black. Head is black with a yellow crown, white eye-rings, and faint eyestripes. Wings are dark with yellow shoulder patches and two white bars. Female is duller than the male.

The range maps show Yellow-rumped Warblers here in Santa Fe in the summer months and then they winter in the southern half of New Mexico and down into Mexico. They are found year-round in the southeastern part of New Mexico. They also winter in the southern states, which is the southern part of their breeding range. They are highly adaptable and found in a variety of habitats.

There have been other reported sightings of warblers within the last week in Aldea. Be on the lookout for the following:

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

MacGillvray’s Warbler

Virginia’s Warbler

Yellow Warbler

A group of warblers is known as a “bouquet”, “confusion”,”fall”, and “wrench” of warblers.

Click on photos to enlarge.