{"id":69643,"date":"2020-05-09T06:48:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T12:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=69643"},"modified":"2025-10-24T09:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:59:10","slug":"first-of-season-male-yellow-warbler-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/09\/first-of-season-male-yellow-warbler-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"First Of Season Male Yellow Warbler Photo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Yellow Warbler tucked into some willows – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/400, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago I was able to take my first of season Yellow Warbler photos when a male came up close to where I sat in my Jeep in a high mountain canyon.<\/p>\n

Not one of the images I took of him in the willow thicket were picture perfect. I had out of focus branches crossing over the right foot and lower body of the bird, the setting was busy and there were shadows on the head and the body of the warbler but I was happy to have one of these woodland birds in my viewfinder again at a reasonable distance.<\/p>\n

It felt to me as if it had been a year since that had happened last although it has only been since last fall.<\/p>\n

I sat and watched the male Yellow Warblers constantly chasing each other around in the willows and marveled at how they were able to zip though the abundant branches without crashing into them.<\/p>\n

They were always on the move and a few times they came close enough to me sitting in my vehicle that I thought they might fly through my open window.<\/p>\n

I also noticed that all of the Yellow Warblers I saw were males and wondered if they arrive on their breeding grounds first or if I was simply more focused on the males because they are an eye-catching, vivid yellow and the females are duller in color and are thus less noticeable.<\/p>\n

The songs<\/span><\/a> of the male Yellow Warblers seemed to be everywhere I went in the canyon and it delighted me to hear them.<\/p>\n

The males seemed to be in hyper-drive because they only landed on the branches for a few seconds before other males chased them off.<\/p>\n

I’m certain that has to do with establishing their territories but it sure made it hard on me to get photos of them. Hopefully by the time I venture up into the mountains again they will have settled down a little bit.<\/p>\n

Even if they haven’t I will still be glad to see and hear them. It really doesn’t take much for me to feel happy.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Yellow Warbler photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three days ago I was able to take my first of season Yellow Warbler photos when a male came up close to where I sat in my Jeep in a high mountain canyon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161503,"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":[27,4594,2281,26,773],"tags":[4004,3940,929,4062,9862,530,4069,5743,9626,2282,4735,165,6482,9863,3888,3889,6070,902,6492,3887],"class_list":["post-69643","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-canyon","tag-chasing","tag-male","tag-migrant","tag-migration","tag-mountains","tag-recording","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-setophaga-aestiva","tag-song","tag-spring","tag-territories","tag-tucked","tag-warbler","tag-warblers","tag-willow-thicket","tag-willows","tag-wood-warblers","tag-yellow-warbler"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-willows-mia-mcpherson-1161.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-i7h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70511,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/04\/adult-male-yellow-warbler-perched-in-willows\/","url_meta":{"origin":69643,"position":0},"title":"Adult Male Yellow Warbler Perched In Willows","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When this adult male Yellow Warbler landed in a willow near me I was more than happy to photograph him surrounded by the willows.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Yellow Warbler tucked into willows, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-tucked-into-will-mia-mcpherson-7022.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-tucked-into-will-mia-mcpherson-7022.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Two mornings ago I spent a few moments taking female and male Yellow Warbler images that were in a willow thicket next to a creek high in the mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Yellow Warbler with food for her young, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-bugs-mia-mcpherson-5763.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-bugs-mia-mcpherson-5763.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/yellow-warbler-adult-female-bugs-mia-mcpherson-5763.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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