{"id":54187,"date":"2018-09-18T04:34:24","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T10:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54187"},"modified":"2026-05-22T08:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:45:01","slug":"yellow-warbler-with-an-injured-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/18\/yellow-warbler-with-an-injured-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Yellow Warbler With An Injured Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the time I have devoted photographing birds I’ve seen a lot of injured birds, some of them missing feet, some tangled up in fishing line, some with fishing hooks in their bills, and some with cracked or damaged bills, this list goes on.<\/p>\n

I’ve helped to rescue some of those injured birds too when they could be helped, but there are some that I couldn’t help because they could still fly.<\/p>\n

Those I can’t help tug on my heart strings because I’ve seen them, know they are injured, and yet there is nothing I could do.<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Yellow Warbler – Normal Eye<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago a Northern Yellow Warbler foraging in a River Hawthorn caught my attention because it has been about two weeks since I have seen any other Northern Yellow Warblers in that area because they have migrated south.<\/p>\n

So when I spotted this one I admit I wondered why it was still hanging around in a Wasatch Mountain canyon. Then it turned its head…<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Yellow Warbler – Damaged Eye<\/span><\/p>\n

And I could see that its left eye was either missing or severely damaged. The warbler was actively foraging and it could fly and I knew immediately there would be nothing I could do to help this Northern Yellow Warbler who appeared to be blind in that eye.<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Yellow Warbler with eye damage on a hawthorn<\/span><\/p>\n

I wondered then if the reason it hadn’t migrated along with all the other Northern Yellow Warblers in the canyon was because of its blind eye and the difficulties of flying thousands of miles in the dark of night. With only one good eye flying at night might be nearly impossible for this small bird.<\/p>\n

\"HalfHalf blind Northern Yellow Warbler<\/span><\/p>\n

I admit that it bothered me deeply that there was nothing that I could do for this Northern Yellow Warbler<\/span><\/a> as it has for the other injured birds I have seen throughout the years that I couldn’t help.<\/p>\n

Then I remembered for not the first or even the tenth time that this is part of the natural cycle of life for birds and that as hard as it may be for me to deal with I simply have to accept it.<\/p>\n

Some of the things we see are hard, some even feel like a punch to the heart, but life is still good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Northern Yellow Warbler photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

No techs this morning, they aren’t that important as these images were only taken to document the injury this bird has sustained.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I admit that it bothered me deeply that there was nothing that I could do for this Northern Yellow Warbler as it has for the other injured birds I have seen throughout the years that I couldn’t help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4594,2281,26,773],"tags":[4004,970,6810,4620,6566,3815,6809,3887,2282,3888,3889,6492],"class_list":["post-54187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-yellow-warblers","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-blind","tag-fall","tag-hawthorn","tag-injured","tag-injured-eye","tag-yellow-warbler","tag-setophaga-aestiva","tag-warbler","tag-warblers","tag-wood-warblers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-damaged-eye-mia-mcpherson-8937.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-e5Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52151,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/18\/male-yellow-warblers-in-the-wasatch-mountains-sunshine-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":54187,"position":0},"title":"Male Northern Yellow Warblers in the Wasatch Mountains – Sunshine On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning was spent up in the mountain canyons again photographing the birds I found at the higher elevations, the birds I saw the most of were Northern Yellow Warblers, birds who look like sunshine on the wing.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging male Northern Yellow Warbler, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-foraging-mia-mcpherson-0939.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-foraging-mia-mcpherson-0939.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2020","format":false,"excerpt":"These bright Northern 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 "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern 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, 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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 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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":[]},{"id":73282,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/29\/the-funniest-yellow-warbler-photo-i-have-ever-taken\/","url_meta":{"origin":54187,"position":5},"title":"The Funniest Northern Yellow Warbler Photo I Have Ever Taken","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago near a creek in the Wasatch Mountains I took the funniest Northern Yellow Warbler photo I have ever taken in all the years that I have been photographing birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Yellow Warbler with a moth in its bill, Wasatch Mountains, East Canyon, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-moth-on-bill-mia-mcpherson-7744.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-moth-on-bill-mia-mcpherson-7744.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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