Warblers are my nemesis(es). They flit about and absolutely refuse to pose until I can focus my camera. Nonetheless, I love them! And the yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia) are particularly delightful, since they sing beautifully and are easy to spot (being yellow and all) and look more like Easter Peeps than baby chickens do.
Yellow warbler, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 31, 2021
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens is my go-to place for yellow warblers, since they breed there. Sometimes I go there and the birds let me photograph them. Other times, it’s Susan-sees-10-yellow-warblers, Susan-fails-to-photograph-even-one.
Yellow warbler, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 13, 2024
The yellow warblers in this slice show were photographed at Green-Wood Cemetery and Jamaica Bay Wildlife Rerfuge in April and May 2024.
I was very fortunate in 2021 to see a large number of yellow warblers, most at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This slideshow includes these sightings, especially on May 31.
Yellow warbler, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 27, 2020
It has taken me quite a while to get enough video together to make a yellow warbler offering. One of my best days was May 8, 2019, at Hempstead Lake State Park on Long Island, where I got to see a pair of yellow warblers flying together. One landed on a branch for enough seconds for me to get a video of the singing. I have consistently seen yellow warblers, and tried to photograph them, at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
Yellow warbler, Hempstead Lake State Park, May 8, 2019
The yellow warblers in this slideshow were seen May 27, June 17, and July 5, 2020, in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, at both the West Pond and Big Johns Pond.
Yellow warbler, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 15, 2019
Yellow warbler, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 18, 2019
The video was filmed May 16, 24, and June 7, 2017, May 29, 2018, and May 6, 8, 15, 18, 21, and 25, 2019, at Hempstead Lake State Park, Governors Island, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, and Pelham Bay Park, all in New York. The music is first by the birds themselves, then Friedrich Kuhlau’s 3 Fantaisies for Solo Flute, Op. 38, Fantaisie No. 1, performed by Paolo Dalmoro and obtained from MusOpen.org, a royalty-free music source.
These yellow warblers were photographed at Hempstead Lake State Park in Long Island, Governors Island, and Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge between 2016 and 2019.
