Colorful Migrant Warblers
Photo by Steven D. Bailey.
Share Special Relationships with Native Plants by Sheryl DeVore
B
irders both novice or advanced get downright giddy in to the Chicago region available online at Tinyurl.com/WarblerMay, because that’s the peak time for some 30 species of sOfTheChicagoRegion. wood warblers to migrate through the Chicago region. Marsh says she’s learning how important warblers are to Their names are descriptive; black-throated green warbler and maintaining healthy oak woods, and that climate change is yellow-rumped warbler, for example, as well as referential, such as affecting the relationship between plants and birds. Warblers are the Nashville warbler, first discovered in Tennessee. The males are five-to-six-inch-long insect eaters. Many live in Central and South in their stunning breeding plumages now as they head north to America in the winter and are part of a larger group of birds called raise a family. neotropical migrants. These birds migrate in spring northward to When Maureen Marsh moved to the Chicago area 10 years their breeding grounds. For example, the yellow-rumped warbler ago, she discovered the joys of warbler watching. “It was the breeds in boreal forests. Some species like the yellow warbler beginning of May at Ryerson Woods [in Riverwoods]. The leaves remain in the Chicago region to breed. were just coming out and when the sun started to hit the top of the They may be called warblers, but many of their songs sound trees, I saw a blue-winged warbler,” says Marsh, who is certified as nothing like a warbling melody. Some, like the fairly common a University of Illinois master naturalblack-throated green warbler sings ist. She also serves as secretary for the what sounds to some like a buzzy, Lake-Cook Audubon Society “Zoo. Zee. Zoo. Zoo. Zee.” (LakeCookAudubon.org) and leads The most common warbler seen warbler walks. in the region is the yellow-rumped “My overwhelming feeling was, warbler. On occasion, it remains in ‘Wow, this is so beautiful.’ It’s such a parts of Illinois in winter, but most special time of year. Illinois is such a start coming through in March and good migratory flyway for warblers. April, with peak numbers in early We are so fortunate to see this,” Marsh May. The male has yellow shoulders, says. On the right day in May, a crown and rump contrasting with warbler watcher might see 25 or more a blue body, black cheek and white different warbler species. Marsh and Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. throat. The females, as with many The American redstart is a warbler commonly seen in fellow master naturalist Cathy Walz warbler species, arrive later and the Chicago region in mid-May. created a printable online warbler guide appear drabber. A beginning warbler 42
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