{"id":92360,"date":"2021-07-18T05:56:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-18T11:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=92360"},"modified":"2024-09-07T14:43:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T19:43:28","slug":"yellow-warbler-fledgling-plumage-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/07\/18\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-plumage-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow Warbler Fledgling Plumage Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-wp-editing=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-134089 size-full\" title=\"Yellow Warbler fledgling on July 6th\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821.jpg\" alt=\"Yellow Warbler fledgling on July 6th, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-0821.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Yellow Warbler fledgling on July 6th<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The past few weeks I&#8217;ve been hearing and seeing Yellow Warbler fledglings while I have been photographing birds high in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wasatch_Range\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a>. Some people can&#8217;t hear the soft begging calls of this warbler species but I sure can. I could locate where the fledglings were because I could hear them.<\/p>\n<p>Neither of these photos will make it into my photo galleries because they have flaws but I thought the images showed how quickly the plumage changes on Yellow Warbler fledglings. When they are just out of the nest their plumage is mostly gray. The gray plumage can even cause people to misidentify them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-134091 size-full\" title=\"Yellow Warbler fledgling on July 12th\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921.jpg\" alt=\"Yellow Warbler fledgling on July 12th, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Yellow Warbler fledgling on July 12th<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Within days though more and more yellow feathers will replace the gray feathers. It all happens so fast.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not saying these two Yellow Warbler fledglings are the same bird even though they were photographed in the same location but these two photos taken just six days apart do show the color changes of the plumage nicely. In just a couple of weeks very little of the gray juvenal plumage shows and by the time these warblers migrate in late August and early September they will look very much like the females of this species.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The past few weeks I&#8217;ve been hearing and seeing Yellow Warbler fledglings while I have been photographing birds high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134091,"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":[27,2281,1731,26,773],"tags":[12022,4141,4067,4643,5834,9626,2282,2315,3888,3889,6070,6492,3887,4193],"class_list":["post-92360","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-color-change","tag-fledgling","tag-immature","tag-juvenal-plumage","tag-plumage-differences","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-setophaga-aestiva","tag-summer-3","tag-warbler","tag-warblers","tag-willow-thicket","tag-wood-warblers","tag-yellow-warbler","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-8921.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-o1G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52862,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/02\/photographing-yellow-warblers-feeding-their-fledglings-fun-and-frustration\/","url_meta":{"origin":92360,"position":0},"title":"Photographing Yellow Warblers Feeding Their Fledglings &#8211; Fun and Frustration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had fun and frustration while photographing 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fledgling Yellow Warbler begging to be fed by a male, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-begging-mia-mcpherson-0952.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-fledgling-begging-mia-mcpherson-0952.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-begging-mia-mcpherson-0952.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-begging-mia-mcpherson-0952.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52936,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/05\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-foraging-on-its-own\/","url_meta":{"origin":92360,"position":1},"title":"Yellow Warbler Fledgling Foraging On Its Own","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine moving down a gravel road and seeing just a tiny flash of movement and light-colored plumage in a stand of green vegetation and trying to figure out if it is a bright leaf in the breeze or a fledgling Yellow Warbler in a split second.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fledgling Yellow Warbler searching for food, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-1558.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-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-1558.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-1558.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-1558.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":71788,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/10\/yellow-warbler-fledglings-everywhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":92360,"position":2},"title":"Yellow Warbler Fledglings Everywhere","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There were several Yellow Warbler fledglings in this shrub and the adults were running themselves ragged trying to keep them all fed.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow Warbler fledgling in a Blue Elderberry bush, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/yellow-warbler-chick-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-9495.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/yellow-warbler-chick-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-9495.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/yellow-warbler-chick-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-9495.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/yellow-warbler-chick-elderberry-mia-mcpherson-9495.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52092,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/12\/photographing-female-yellow-warblers-feeding-their-fledglings\/","url_meta":{"origin":92360,"position":3},"title":"Photographing Female Yellow Warblers Feeding Their Fledglings","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to be able to photograph the female Yellow Warbler as she fed her young and to watch the fledgling as it fluttered its wings and gulped down the food the female brought it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Yellow Warbler feeding her young, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-female-feeding-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-9679.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-female-feeding-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-9679.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-female-feeding-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-9679.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-female-feeding-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-9679.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103990,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/09\/irresistible-young-yellow-warbler\/","url_meta":{"origin":92360,"position":4},"title":"Irresistible Young Yellow Warbler","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I photographed a juvenile Yellow Warbler in the patchy mix of yellow and gray feathers that they only sport for a short time after fledging.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow Warbler chick in patchy juvenal plumage, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/yellow-warbler-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.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-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/yellow-warbler-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/yellow-warbler-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-4396.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":92360,"position":5},"title":"Male Yellow Warbler In A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"As I took these 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male 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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92360","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=92360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}