Birds

A Nashville Warbler Bathing in the Pond During Migration

September 12, 2012 by Larry 7 Comments

Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla ridgwayi) photos by Larry Jordan

I have been enjoying some first time visitors to my yard this fall, including several warblers, one of which is the western Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla ridgwayi). Click on photos for full sized images.

Their are two separate subspecies of the Nashville Warbler, one occurs east of the Mississippi River (Oreothlypis ruficapilla ruficapilla) and the other, pictured here, formerly called the Calaveras Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla ridgwayi) in northwestern United States and adjacent Canada.

Like many warblers the Nashville Warbler breeds in North America and winters in Mexico. I feel rather fortunate having this visitor to my yard as Birds of North America Online states that they are an “uncommon fall migrant in California” usually in August and September.

I am even more pleased that he or she thought that my water feature was the best looking environment to take a brief respite from that migration and take a leisurely bath.

I hope you are located somewhere where you have access to the fall warbler migration. Here’s a short video of the Nashville Warbler taking that bath.

httpv://youtu.be/8e1fl3oD_-Y

Enjoy it while you can!

Written by Larry
Larry Jordan was introduced to birding after moving to northern California where he was overwhelmed by the local wildlife, forcing him to buy his first field guide just to be able to identify all the species visiting his yard. Building birdhouses and putting up feeders brought the avian fauna even closer and he was hooked. Larry wanted to share his passion for birds and conservation and hatched The Birder's Report in September of 2007. His recent focus is on bringing the Western Burrowing Owl back to life in California where he also monitors several bluebird trails. He is a BirdLife Species Champion and contributes to several other conservation efforts, being the webmaster for Wintu Audubon Society and the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Urban Bird Foundation. He is now co-founder of a movement to create a new revenue stream for our National Wildlife Refuges with a Wildlife Conservation Pass.