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<\/p>\nYellow Warblers are known to eat insects and spiders almost exclusively. This one didn’t get the message.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n One year ago today I photographed this Yellow Warbler doing two things out of the ordinary. First off he was being what I call “sticky,” meaning he stayed in the same spot for a long time. If you know anything about warblers in general and Yellow Warblers in particular you’re aware that they’re among the flittiest birds out there as they constantly move from perch to perch in their search for tiny insects. I’d estimate that while they’re gleaning insects the average time they spend in one spot is about 2-3 seconds which usually isn’t quite long enough for me to get my lens on the bird, focus and fire the shutter. Having the bird move or fly out of the frame just before I press the shutter button is the norm rather than the exception.<\/p>\n But this guy stayed in the same spot for so long I was able to take 154 shots of him. I was amazed because many of those photos were single shots rather than part of a burst. So the obvious question is… What made him stay?<\/p>\n He stayed because he was eating fruit – serviceberries in this instance. In my experience it’s almost unheard of for this species to eat anything but insects and spiders but there’s no question that he was eating berries, in this case the berry directly in front of his bill. He had pierced its skin with his bill so he could get at the juicy pulp inside. If you look carefully you can see the wound on the berry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Of course I didn’t have eye contact or good light on his face when he’d take a bite but photos like this one documented what was really happening. At first I was suspicious that he was picking tiny insects off of the berry but close looks at some of my photos confirmed otherwise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n In many of my photos he had berry juice on the end of his bill and in this one we see a bit of pulp there too. And the wound on the berry became progressively larger over time as he fed.<\/p>\n I wouldn’t call this behavior rare but I suspect it’s pretty unusual, especially to document it conclusively with photos. Here’s what Cornell’s Birds of North America Online (a pay site) has to say about the diet of Yellow Warblers: “Insects and other arthropods: may take wild fruits occasionally.”<\/p>\n And their almost exclusively insect diet is the reason that Yellow Warblers rarely if ever come to feeders, even though they may be common in the area. A frustrating fact of life for many folks who like to watch birds at their feeders.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yellow Warblers are known to eat insects and spiders almost exclusively. This one didn’t get the message.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/yellow-warbler-3575-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"yellow-warbler-3575-ron-dudley\\"")
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