Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Prothonotary Warbler

For this week's World Bird Wednesday and Nature NotesI have more on the Prothonotary Warbler. The Prothonotary is one of my favorite warblers. Mainly because of its beautiful yellow color. I love colorful birds. They look similiar to the Yellow warbler, but the male Yellow warbler actually has red streaks down the front of its belly.

The Prothonotary nest in cavities like the woodpeckers holes. They like to be near the water or wooded swamps. They line their nest with mosses, sounds nice and cozy. An interesting thing I read about these warblers is that the fledglings can swim if they fall into the water when leaving the nest. I read that the male is a bright yellow-orange, but I say they look more yellow than orange. Their wings are blue-gray in color. The female has more of a white belly. And they have a heavy and spikelike black bill.

During our visit to Magee Marsh we were able to watch both the female Protonotary going in and out of the nest cavity. The male was nearby also, I am not sure if he was seen helping with the nest.


These photos are fuzzy due to the heavy cropping. I was not that close to the nest.








I hope you enjoyed my Prothonotary Warbler and to see more wonderful birds please click on my links for Springman's World Bird Wednesday and Michelle's Nature Notes.  Thank you to Springman and Michelle  for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my birds. Have a great week!

38 comments:

  1. What a beautiful bird-I love the bright color. It's interesting that the young can swim if need be.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I always love bright colors. It is a beautiful bird.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my goodness ..... what a beautiful bird! I've never seen one "in the wild" before - only in pictures! You got some GREAT captures ..... and a wonderful experience too :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. He is the most gorgeous colour and your shots are great. I am continually amazed at how you can identify all the birds.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I learn so much about birds from you, Eileen. Thanks for sharing more of the Prothonotary Warbler... Very pretty bird for sure...
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Eileen, No, I have never seen one of these Warblers before seeing your nice pictures! I am sure you are glad to have taken the photographs. Have a very nice day today!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wonderful following this beautiful warbler. We saw this bird when we spent the Winter/early spring season at Port Aransas TX. I was thinking about that Winter when I looked at your last post about this marsh....in Texas we saw all those migratory birds in April and very early May -- and then I guess they all head from there up to your house ;>)

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a gorgeous little bird:-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very nice captures, even with the heavy cropping!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a beautiful little bird! So lovely yellow!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh I love the wee birds (yellow too). How cool that they can swim if they fall in! I thought of you this weekend when I had Macgillivray warblers at The Dirt Patch. I got a few pics, but haven't had time to blog about it...yet!! lol!
    Your warbler is just gorgeous!
    meggs.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love colorful birds too! This was an informative post, with good pictures of the warbler!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Eileen, you always present such wonderful information on the birds you've photographed.
    The yellow color is striking. The one in the third photo posed nicely for you.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your warbler in green is wow! Really, little beauty.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi there - that really is a great looking bird - the bill (beak?) looks needle thin and sharp. You really do get a huge range of warblers in the US.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

    ReplyDelete
  16. such a complicated name for that sweet little warbler. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a name for that handsome Warbler. Funny that I just heard the explanation for the name on the talkinbirds podcast the other day :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. That third photo is a beauty!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Goodness, What a stunning bird! I did not know that they were cavity nesters. Learned something new today.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great pictures and post. The warblers are so much fun to watch. I can just see it flittering through the trees.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Beautiful bird! I've never seen one so I definitely appreciate the variety of poses!

    ReplyDelete
  22. They are just gorgeous. I have found a new warbler, nest-building in a tree on our front. I'm waiting for a better birder than I to ID it!

    ReplyDelete
  23. A great and informative post. A beautiful set of images. Wonderful work.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Magee marsh is sure being good to you Eileen! What a wonderful description you've written for this rare sighting. Amazing that you found the nest. ;-)WBW

    ReplyDelete
  25. That yellow is stunning, Eileen. Wonderful captures! :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Stunning colours on this beautiful bird.
    Many thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The third image in the series is especially lovely! The sharp detail and the crisp colors of the mostly yellow bird against all that green foliage makes for a particularly marvelous composition! (I have two blogs... toryporter.blogspot.com is the one where I posted for World Bird Wednesday this week)

    ReplyDelete
  28. What a beautiful bird! The third photo is an absolute winner!

    ReplyDelete
  29. The colorful birds are my favorites too. This one is a beauty, thanks for all the information.

    ReplyDelete
  30. What a beautiful bird. I would love to see them. And you got some fantastic shots of them. Great work.

    ReplyDelete
  31. That's a beautiful little bird! Nice captures!

    ReplyDelete
  32. He's adorable, with beautiful color!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wow, that's a VERY yellow bird! Very pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I love to learn about a new bird.. I will have to go look and see if they are in this area of NY..Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  35. What a gorgeous bird. I saw the photo in Michelle's summary, and I had to express awe.

    ReplyDelete

Hello, thank you for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.

BTW, Anonymous comments unless a name is included will not be published. Also, comments with links will be deleted.

Have a happy day, Eileen

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a ha ppy new week! "One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day." "T...