Photographing Northern Yellow Warblers Feeding Their Fledglings – Fun and Frustration

Male Northern Yellow Warbler shining brightly in the willows

Yesterday I had fun and frustration while photographing Northern Yellow Warblers feeding their fledglings up in a Wasatch Mountain canyon.

Fun because it is always great to see them and frustration because of the setting they were in combined with a breeze.  The breeze kept blowing the willows around which blocked clear views of the fledglings quite often.

I saw male Northern Yellow Warblers up high in the willows singing between foraging for their young. Even in the brightness of the willows these males shine brightly.

Female Northern Yellow Warbler in a thicket

The female Northern Yellow Warblers are duller than the males though they have their own subtle beauty their coloration does make it much harder to spot them and they don’t go to the tops of the willows to sing like the males do.

Fledgling Northern Yellow Warbler cleaning its bill

The fledglings at this age have very little yellow in their plumage, basically only in their wings and tails. These fledglings are barely out of the nest though and soon they will have more yellow in their feathers. This little one was cleaning its bill when I photographed it in between willows bouncing around and obstructing my view.

Fledgling Northern Yellow Warbler all fluffed up

And here it is looking all fluffed up after it cleaned its bill. I struggled with the willows blowing in front of it.

There was another fledgling nearby that the adults were feeding but I didn’t have the best angle on it to get a clear view. That was very frustrating.

Fledgling Northern Yellow Warbler begging to be fed by a male

I only had one series out of many where I had the adult and the fledgling in clear view while the adult attempted to feed its young…

Fledgling Northern Yellow Warbler and missed prey

What I mean by “attempted” is that the prey was dropped instead of going into the fledgling’s bill, it can be seen just below the bills of the birds in this photo. After this photo the adult looked down for the prey and soon flew off to forage for its young again.

Close up male Northern Yellow Warbler

I did spot a male Yellow Warbler who flew in close which gave me the opportunity to take a nice series of images of him with a painterly background in beautiful light.

Curious look from a close male Northern Yellow Warbler

I’m sure it is just my imagination but to me this male looks a touch frazzled and he should be since he was making so many foraging runs to feed his hungry young. Of the feedings I saw most of them were delivered by the male.

Close male Northern Yellow Warbler perched in willows and sunlight

I am so happy that I was able to see and photograph these Northern Yellow Warblers and their fledglings yesterday even though it caused a ton of frustration for me, I may have to change my strategy while photographing these bright yellow warblers.

Bird photography isn’t always easy though and I accept that.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Northern Yellow Warbler photos plus facts and information about this species.