{"id":115930,"date":"2023-09-17T04:25:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T10:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=115930"},"modified":"2025-10-20T08:39:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:39:29","slug":"yellow-warbler-and-golden-quaking-aspen-leaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/17\/yellow-warbler-and-golden-quaking-aspen-leaves\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow Warbler And Golden Quaking Aspen Leaves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3 max-w-full\">\n<div class=\"min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-3 overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light\">\n<p>Three years ago today, I was up in the Wasatch Mountains, focused on a bright Yellow Warbler snugly nestled in a hawthorn tree on a hillside. As I recall, there was smoke in the air that morning, which made the yellows seem brighter than normal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-115925 size-full\" title=\"Late summer Yellow Warbler in the Wasatch Mountains\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871.jpg\" alt=\"Late summer Yellow Warbler in the Wasatch Mountains, East Canyon, Morgan County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Late summer Yellow Warbler in the Wasatch Mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This warbler might have been a hatch-year bird, and if so, I suspect it was a young male. I can barely discern some reddish streaks on its chest in the full-resolution image.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yellow_warbler\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Yellow Warblers<\/span><\/a> typically begin their fall migration around this time of year. If I plan to take more photos of this species, I&#8217;ll need to head into the mountains again very soon. Because of my extended time back east during their peak nesting season, I haven&#8217;t photographed many Yellow Warblers at all this year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-115923 size-full\" title=\"Golden Quaking Aspen leaves in late summer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144.jpg\" alt=\"Golden Quaking Aspen leaves in late summer, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/quaking-aspen-golden-leaves-mia-mcpherson-0144.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Golden Quaking Aspen leaves in late summer \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On the same morning that I took images of the Yellow Warbler above, I also stopped to take a few photos of the golden Quaking Aspen leaves. Fall and winter start earlier in the mountains than it does in the valleys. I&#8217;d like to head up there now to take more photos of the aspens in their fall colors before winter snows start flying.<\/p>\n<p>Officially, fall is just a few days away now, and it can be a very exciting time of the year. Three years ago today, I remember thinking about how wonderful autumn can be for birds, wildlife, and nature photography. And it is.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> golden and good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/yellow-warbler-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Yellow Warbler photos plus facts and information about this species. Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/flower-and-tree-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three years ago today, I was up in the Wasatch Mountains, focused on a bright Yellow Warbler snugly nestled in a hawthorn tree on a hillside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,5921,4594,2281,14360,26,773],"tags":[14362,1919,3803,6577,3940,7298,13508,12043,7624,14364,6566,6583,14363,4069,4104,14367,6576,7791,7297,2282,2315,4427,14361,14365,3888,3889,14366,6491,6492,3887,4193],"class_list":["post-115930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-east-canyon","category-morgan-county","category-yellow-warblers","category-quaking-aspens","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-american-aspen","tag-aspen","tag-aspens","tag-branches","tag-canyon","tag-crataegus-rivularis","tag-deciduous-tree","tag-female-immature","tag-golden","tag-golden-aspen","tag-hawthorn","tag-leaves","tag-mountain-aspen","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-popple","tag-populus-tremuloides","tag-quaking-aspen","tag-river-hawthorn","tag-setophaga-aestiva","tag-summer-3","tag-tree","tag-trembling-aspen","tag-trembling-poplar","tag-warbler","tag-warblers","tag-white-poplar","tag-wood-warbler","tag-wood-warblers","tag-yellow-warbler","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/yellow-warbler-immature-golden-mia-mcpherson-9871.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-u9Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26436,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/10\/a-male-yellow-warbler-and-aspens-in-the-uinta-national-forest\/","url_meta":{"origin":115930,"position":0},"title":"Male Yellow Warbler and Aspens in the Uinta National Forest","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yellow Warblers are so bright it is not hard to see them as they flit around gleaning insects from the trees in the Uinta National Forest.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Yellow Warbler and Aspens, Cascade Springs, Wasatch National Forest, Wasatch County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-male-mia-mcpherson-3830.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-male-mia-mcpherson-3830.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-male-mia-mcpherson-3830.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-male-mia-mcpherson-3830.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58132,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/25\/yellow-warbler-high-in-the-uinta-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":115930,"position":1},"title":"Yellow Warbler High In The Uinta Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The other bird I photographed that day in the high Uintas was a gorgeous male Yellow Warbler foraging in an aspen tree very close to where I sat inside a \"mobile\" blind at the edge of a dirt road.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Yellow Warbler hanging from an aspen, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73343,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/01\/yellow-warbler-and-a-hawthorn\/","url_meta":{"origin":115930,"position":2},"title":"Yellow Warbler And A Hawthorn","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"These bright Yellow Warblers are getting ready for their long, fall migrations and while I am happy to see that they seem to have had a successful breeding season it also felt a touch bittersweet to me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow Warbler perched in front of a hawthorn, Wasatch Mountains, East Canyon, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-warbler-river-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-7627.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-warbler-river-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-7627.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-warbler-river-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-7627.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-warbler-river-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-7627.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":69893,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/14\/female-yellow-warbler-foraging-in-a-hawthorn-tree\/","url_meta":{"origin":115930,"position":3},"title":"Female Yellow Warbler Foraging In A Hawthorn Tree","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight days ago I photographed my first male Yellow Warbler of the year and two days ago I had some luck with my first females of the season.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow Warbler female looking up into a River Hawthorn tree, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-female-foraging-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-female-foraging-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-female-foraging-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1383.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/yellow-warbler-female-foraging-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1383.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102595,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/23\/photographing-two-yellow-warbler-nests\/","url_meta":{"origin":115930,"position":4},"title":"Photographing Two Yellow Warbler Nests","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I found not one but two Yellow Warbler nests high in the Wasatch Mountains because I paid attention to the movements of two female warblers.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Yellow Warbler in nest with nesting materials, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-6973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-6973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-6973.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-6973.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53053,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/12\/not-so-mellow-yellow-warbler-males\/","url_meta":{"origin":115930,"position":5},"title":"Not So Mellow Yellow Warbler Males","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yellow Warblers are anything but mellow instead they are frenetic, hyperactive, frenzied, energetic and move so quickly they sometimes make me dizzy trying to track them with my long lens.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Yellow Warbler in a hawthorn tree, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-3063.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-3063.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-3063.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-3063.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}