Orange-crowned Warbler

This beautiful small bird blended into the new lime-ish green spring foliage of the red dogwood bushes outside our Aldea kitchen window I almost missed it. When I first saw the movement I mistook it for a Bewick’s Wren scurrying about as they frequently forage in the same dogwoods.

But when I was able to look at it through the camera lens I was pleasantly surprised. There was this little gem of a warbler. I had never seen one and I was happy indeed to get some very quick photos.

It is very difficult to distinguish between the male and the female Orange-crowned Warbler, but I am going out on a limb and calling this one a male since it lacks a lot of gray that the females can have, especially about the head. Also, some of my more out-of-focus photos show a dark orange-ish crown (blurry, but I think it is there) that only the males have, but generally is hidden or they keep it hidden.

This small warbler has olive-green upperparts and faintly streaked yellow underparts. The head has a inconspicuous orange crown, broken eye-ring, and very faint eye line.

The Orange-crowned Warbler is in our part of New Mexico for the summer months and then migrates back down to Mexico for the winter. They also spend winter in the southern-most part of the U.S., just not in New Mexico for the most part.

A group of warblers is known as “bouquet”, "confusion”, “fall”, or “wrench” of warblers.

Click on photos to enlarge.