{"id":69183,"date":"2020-04-29T05:06:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T11:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=69183"},"modified":"2026-05-22T09:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:21:09","slug":"migrating-yellow-warblers-have-returned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/29\/migrating-yellow-warblers-have-returned\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrating Northern Yellow Warblers Have Returned"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Northern Yellow Warbler checking out his territory – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago my pulse quickened when I saw and heard my first of the season Northern Yellow Warblers while looking for birds to photograph high up in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n

Although all of the Northern Yellow Warblers I saw were too far away to take images of I smiled each time I saw them flitting about the still leafless willows or heard their songs floating on the breeze.<\/p>\n

It is early in the season and I am certain that soon enough I will have these feathered balls of sunshine in my viewfinder. The males will perch out in the open on the willows and belt out their songs and the females will stay a bit more hidden from view.<\/p>\n

Have a listen to a Northern Yellow Warbler singing here<\/span><\/a>, perhaps you’ll be able to identify some of the other birds in this recording too. I can.<\/p>\n

\"SpringSpring Northern Yellow Warbler female close up – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Northern Yellow Warblers are among my favorite warblers to photograph because they are abundant in the Wasatch Mountains that are just east of where I live and because they aren’t timid birds, sometimes they will fly in so close that I can’t focus on them.<\/p>\n

Both of the Northern Yellow Warblers in the photos above were taken on the same day in May of 2019 just two minutes apart. The female may have been drawn in by the male’s song.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago my pulse quickened when I saw and heard my first of the season Northern Yellow Warblers while looking for birds to photograph high up in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161499,"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":[27,2281,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,3940,4142,4070,4062,4069,3887,4046,2282,165,6308,3888,3889,6491,6492],"class_list":["post-69183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-yellow-warblers","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-female","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-yellow-warbler","tag-portrait","tag-setophaga-aestiva","tag-spring","tag-territory","tag-warbler","tag-warblers","tag-wood-warbler","tag-wood-warblers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-female-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3543.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-hZR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102236,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/09\/spring-yellow-warbler-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":69183,"position":0},"title":"Spring Northern Yellow Warbler Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a bit of fun taking female and male Northern Yellow Warbler photos yesterday in the high country of the Wasatch Mountain Range on a bright sunny morning.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult female Northern Yellow Warbler perched in a willow in spring, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-willow-mia-mcpherson-1310.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-willow-mia-mcpherson-1310.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-willow-mia-mcpherson-1310.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-willow-mia-mcpherson-1310.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82168,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/24\/adult-male-yellow-warbler-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":69183,"position":1},"title":"Adult Male Northern Yellow Warbler Photo","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This adult male Northern Yellow Warbler photo taken in the Wasatch Mountains a few years ago reminds me that any day now I could see and hear these bright yellow birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Male Northern Yellow Warbler perched in morning light, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6614.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6614.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105456,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/26\/male-yellow-warbler-in-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":69183,"position":2},"title":"Male Northern Yellow Warbler In A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"As I took these Northern Yellow Warbler photos earlier this week in the mountains I realized that my time with these bright birds is coming to an end for the season.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Northern Yellow warbler poking around a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-summer-mia-mcpherson-6374.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-summer-mia-mcpherson-6374.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-summer-mia-mcpherson-6374.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/yellow-warbler-adult-male-summer-mia-mcpherson-6374.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"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":69183,"position":3},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-foraging-mia-mcpherson-0939.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-foraging-mia-mcpherson-0939.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102894,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/05\/yellow-and-macgillivrays-warbler-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":69183,"position":4},"title":"Yellow And MacGillivray’s Warbler Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago when I wasn't photographing a Broad-tailed Hummingbird I took male Yellow and MacGillivray's Warbler photos as they chased each other around.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male MacGillivray's Warbler and serviceberry blossoms, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-serviceberry-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-5947.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-serviceberry-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-5947.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-serviceberry-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-5947.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/macgillivrays-warbler-male-serviceberry-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-5947.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52862,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/02\/photographing-yellow-warblers-feeding-their-fledglings-fun-and-frustration\/","url_meta":{"origin":69183,"position":5},"title":"Photographing Northern Yellow Warblers Feeding Their Fledglings – Fun and Frustration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fledgling Northern Yellow Warbler begging to be fed by a male, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, 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