Warblers are small, insect-eating birds, that are often difficult to identify and a lot of fun to watch.  I’ve managed to “successfully” (in that I have a photo which will definitively ID the bird, not that I necessarily have a good photo) photographed twenty different types of warblers, all in New England.  

The blackburnian warbler on the left is one example of the not particularly successful photographs.  It’s one of the few times I’ve ever seen a blackburnian, and it was when I had a less powerful camera and lens combination (400mm lens, 6.1mp camera at the time; now I have a 500mm w/a 14.2mp camera).  

After the fold, you’ll see a few more photos that are of the poor quality of this one, but most of them are some of my better work, and a few of them are among the best photos I’ve ever taken, such as this blue-gray gnatchatcher:

The blue-gray gnatchatcher (which is not a warbler) is 4.5″ long, and in this photo has nesting material in its mouth.

My base of operation is in Vermont, but these photos spread throughout the surrounding states (though none are more than a few hours away from Southeastern Vermont).

One of the reasons I love trying to photograph warblers is because they present a real challenge while not being impossible, and when you’re lucky, you can get incredibly close to them.

One quick note: all these photos are clickable, leading to larger versions of the photos with details (camera type, location of photo, etc.).

I don’t have time to write up collections of photos that often, so if you want to get regular updates, you can subscribe to my photo alerts, which is announcement only and posts either a daily or weekly (your choice) digest of all my recent additions.

I hope you enjoy the warblers!

Yellow-rumped warblers are among the first to return each Spring and the last to leave:

                               

The yellow rumps are fairly ubiquitous here in Spring, but can stick around well into October.

Black-throated green warblers are really neat to watch.  They’re not common birds for me, but I usually get to see a few every year:

                               

I’ve only ever managed to get one photo of a wilson’s warbler, though I’ve seen them a few times.  Hopefully this year will yield better results:

                               

This Northern Parula was a lot of work, but well worth it:

                               

This magnolia warbler was a great find, and not far from home:

                               

This blackpoll was very tricky to identify (fall warblers throw a lot of people off):

                               

Again with the confusing fall warblers: this one’s a pine warbler, though I wouldn’t know it from the guidebooks alone:

                               

Yellow warblers are just incredibly cute.  These were all taken within a half hour’s ride from home.

                               

                               

American redstarts are extremely difficult to photograph, but I think I did okay here.  This one was in my yard:

                               

Black and white warblers nest in my yard, but I rarely get good photos of them at home.  These are from some of my better birding areas:

                               

                               

                               

Those last two have a funny story behind them– they’re of the same bird.  I was in a wooded area, trying to find a black-throated blue (see next photo), and I have the bird’s call on my cell phone.  I played it to try to see if one would respond.  No Black-throated blue responded, but suddenly this big noise was right above me, chitting away.  It took me some time to realize that it was this black-and-white warbler that apparently didn’t like me being there.  Not only did it chide me the whole time I was photographing it, it followed me for about 20′, continually chiding me the whole time.

The black-thraoted blue warbler is one I spent a lot of time trying to get good photos of before I found this one:

                               

I rarely find prairie warblers, but when I do, I always try to get a good photo:

                               

All my experiences with prarie warblers are in Maine, though I know one was spotted in VT last week.

Common yellowthroats are, well, common, but they’re still a lot of fun to photograph:

                               

I’ve never seen a Nashville warbler close to home; my only sightings of them are further north (Maine & Northern VT & NH).  This is one of the better Nashville photos I’ve gotten:

                               

This is probably one of the best palm warbler photos I’ve ever taken:

                               

This blue-winged warbler is the latest addition to my warbler collection.  It was a lot of work to track down, but worth it.  We first heard it and tried to find it, but it kept diving into bushes and I kept just not getting the photo.  After about 20 minutes, it just flew overhead and landed in a nearby tree, and I finally got the shot I wanted of it:

                               

This chestnut-sided warbler was also really tricky to find, but vigilance paid off.  These are extremely small and fast-moving birds, but sometimes they will stay still for a moment or two:

                               

This is the one and only time I’ve ever photographed a canada warbler.  Eventually I will do better:

                               

Ovenbirds are not uncommon, but I’ve only ever managed to get this one photo of one:

                               

I still don’t have photos of waterthrushes (Louisiana or Northern) and the mourning warbler constantly eludes me, but I live in hope.