It has been a good week around the Intrigued HQ. To kick things off we held what I believe to be our 4th Annual Intrigued Corporate Warbler Watch and Walk in the Woods event. Jan was busy organizing her St. Jude event at the local high school, but Brad was able to make it out along with Lisa, a fellow local birder who we met up while we were down in Texas – it really is a small world. We got some really good finds and had a great day walking the back trails at a nearby state park. This time managed to come back tick free unlike the week before when one of those hell spawn blood sucking heathens broke my defenses and started draining me of vital fluids. Follow that up with another outing with Brad to tin the Prairie Warbler for the year. Talking about calling your shot, Brad said it would be at this place and audible from the parking lot. Sure enough, we make a quick loop around a nearby field where we heard then spotted it and then right when we got back to the parking lot, there was another one waving and singing its sweet notes for our listening pleasure – note, it did occur to me it was really just mocking us for walking right past it into the field. The recent bird haul put me at 302 with my 3 provisionals for the year! Then the cherry on top, came home from that successful Warbler check and popped off my first 10 mile nonstop run. Life is good.
Per my last post, this month’s theme is “May I have another [chance]” where I am featuring field encounters that didn’t … for a kind perspective…go as well as expected. Primarily this involves some degree of craptastic execution behind the glass. Not always my fault (okay, mostly my fault, well, all my fault) the shots came out soft, blown out, dark abyss or eclipsed. Normally these would be promptly slammed into the circular file with a fitting commentary, but some of these are lifers and no telling when I’ll get another chance at it…but when I do, I PROMISE to get better tins. With that said, here is today’s less than stellar featured feathered friend.
This particular species is especially painful as I did get a second chance and pretty much blew that as well. Hit the jump and I’ll show you what I was able to clean up enough to tell it is at least a bird.
I am starting with shots from my second encounter with the rather plain (dare say dull) looking Warbler – in my defense I did get slightly better, but the struggle was real with this very unaccommodating member of the New World Warblers or Parulidae.
The Warbler family is full of oddly named species. There are some very descriptive monikers like the Black and White Warbler which is oddly purple and yellow…kidding. Add in the Red-Faced, Rufous Capped, Yellow-Throated, Chestnut-Sided, Yellow, Cerulean, Blue-Winged and Golden-Winged with descriptive color associated names. Then there are the states aligned ones like the Louisiana (Waterthrush), Tennessee, Nashville, Virginia, Kentucky, Connecticut, Cape May, Canada (let’s hear it hehehe). Then there is the what the hell category that includes such Warblers as Ovenbird, Prothonotary (I know, robes), Mourning, Palm, Grace’s, Hermit and the one you are looking at here, the Lucy’s Warbler.
We are overly blessed with so many gorgeous Warblers, at least while they are passing through to their breeding spots or back to their wintering grounds. Over the years I have become very familiar with a majority of these birds and have officially seen all but 10 of the 51 members of the family (failed attempting to get 3 of the missing ones last year). Oh, this is where I should probably mention I had not even heard of this particular Warbler when we first heard it calling from the dense tree canopy.
The first encounter was at Kartchner Caverns State Park outside of Benson, Arizona on our spring trek through that state last year. I mentioned this particular site in a previous post on the Cactus Wren and it remains one of my favorite places to bird in Arizona (link here). Problem is, for a desert setting, there are a lot of trees in this particular area which makes it incredibly hard to get eyes on, much less focus locked on such a nondescript bird. Merlin alerted us to its presence, but once the “what the hell is that” discussion had played out with Linda it was pretty much hear the call, reorient the ears and wait for the next call hoping to see some kind of movement and then contort to get at least a glimpse – Twister has NOTHING on what was going on there – clearly a bronze medal level Breaking performance (Raygun was clearly a birder and will live on in infamy – link here).
Eventually I did manage to get a couple of shots in the tin…scratch that…I managed to get a LOT of shots in the tin, but only a few of those actually had the target bird in them. There was enough to show off a few interesting features of this tiny Warbler.
First, the males have a faint broken rufous cap that is often not visible when they are perched. Every so often it would drop its head down just enough to give me a glimpse – shades of the hidden crown on the Kinglets. The other interesting feature is they have s similar colored spot on their tushie, very reminiscent of the rufous patches on the Towhees.
This is even harder to spot and was lucky enough to get a couple of sights as it was moving through the trees. The one below is the best look at it – quite the surprise compared to the rest of the dull gray wash that covers the wings and breast. The females, well they might as well switch teams and become a Gnatcatcher. Basically all grey with a hint of crown and rump coloring that ranges from “yellowish brown or reddish yellow” per Cornell. You darlings got the shaft in the color conga line for the Warblers.
My second sighting was at CT RV Resort in Benson. While exploring the wash that surrounds that particular resort, the name popped again on Merlin. “Oh great, here we go again“. Luckily the trees were less dense here so I did get some better looks (all the shots with the sky blue background). That did not mean I was able to technically execute better – maybe I should just take up finger painting.
As this was a lifer for me, how about we dig into some interesting facts for you to take away with you. You have to be asking yourself about now how this particular Warbler got such an obscure name. Luckily, Cornell was on it. It was named after Lucy Hunter Baird, the daughter of ornithologist Spencer Fullerton Baird who is known for being a Smithsonian Institute secretary. It had to be a letdown for her seeing all the other prettier Warbler options ha. Lucy’s are actually one of the two Warblers that nests in tree cavities – the Prothonotary being the other. It was initially discovered by James Graham Cooper in 1861 at the point where Arizona, Nevada and California come together.
This Warbler prefers DENSE southwest mesquite settings (that’s a big DUH to that one ha) with elevations in the 3k to 6k feet. They winter in Central America, but push up into lower Nevada, southern Utah, California, New Mexico and Arizona for the frisky season. This I find quite interesting as I am southern Nevada all the time and I have never seen them there. Lastly, they have a clutch size of 3 to 7 eggs and hatch “naked and helpless” – “Nathan needs some Huggies”.
All I have to say is Lucy, you are a cute little chicken (link here).
Not the most exciting Warbler and certainly not the best pictures I’ve brought you, but hopefully you enjoyed seeing this new species to the blog. Take care everyone!
Wildlife Intrigued 
What a pretty warbler! I personally like the subdued colours. I am very glad you decided to share with us😊
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Found your comment in my spam folder – all good now. Glad you enjoyed this new Warbler to the blog. Compared to our other New World Warblers it is definitely subdued, but still cute with that rufous crown and butt. Hope all is going well for you and yours across the pond!
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Glad you rescued my comment from spam – it appears that my comments are being flagged for some reason. Thanks for your well-wishes and have a lovely week!
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Hopefully my approval of the one that went to spam will prevent any future comments from getting tagged there – I look at the spam folder almost daily so hopefully I won’t miss it should it happen again.
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Said it before B, you are sometimes way too harsh on yourself. Some of these images are really good. Having attempted photographing hypa warblers myself I know how tricky it is, just a handful of decent shots is a great success rate!
This particular species would fit in quite well with the LBJs we get here, it’s the same pleasing grey of the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) one of my favourite spring songsters that has eluded my lens for way too long.
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Eh, my readers deserve the best I can get in the tin. I had to spend a great deal of time in the digital darkroom to get these sufficient to present. Will agree with you though that Warblers are in a class by themselves for difficult to tin – damn things are hyper hahaha. I looked up your Blackcap – thanks for the scientific name – wow, those are very similar, but with that Catbird cap. Brace yourself B., there are worse shots coming. Take care and thanks for dropping in …oh, oh, thought of you last night as I watched a drag race event on TV last night. Not sure if stalling out is common or not, but two of the final runs in the main events had a complete stall at the starting line, quite the letdown.
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We have to thank the digi gods for use of their darkroom from time to time. Can you imagine how much fun it would be if we still used film?
Can’t say I see many cars stalling on the start line. Plenty of times they creep too far forward (lot of horses pulling them) and often they will get shut off for various reasons. Not many use a ‘standard’ clutch set-up anymore.
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I probably would have given up bird photography if I still had to use film – not knowing if your exposure is right, if you picked fast enough film etc. etc. …then the disappointment when you picked them up a week later – no thank you. Per the race, not sure what the cause was, just one took off down the track and the other just sat there – one was even a motorcycle final. Didn’t know they advanced from the old clutch days, makes since – probably shear the teeth off those gears the old way.
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Merlin repeatedly listed Lucy while we were in Arizona, but I failed each time to find it. Now you’ve brought it up-close-and-personal. Thanks! (and another Thanks for the I Love Lucy clip, she was captivating!)
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You are very welcome Sam! This Warbler was a nightmare to finally get “something” in the tin I could show everyone – threw out a heap load of shots ha. Hopefully I broke the ice for you Sam and now you will find it and tin it with ease – that is the way it tends to go with me, never see, finally see, then see it everywhere. Take care and as always, thanks for dropping in.
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They have beautiful colours, nit boring at all, love them!
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Howdy John! It does have its own beauty in its special way – just a bit of a letdown compared to all the other Warblers we are blessed with here in the US. Hope all is well out in the desert. We may be coming back through Vegas on our way back from the dog competition before we head out to San Diego for the wedding – hope those temps calm down out there! Take care and thanks for dropping in.
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Having one of those hell-spawned blood-sucking heathens draining your precious bodily fluids is enough to get you off to a Warblery start. You http://WWW.W event sounds like fun times in the field. Great, not so well as expected shots. I have to say I do love Lucy’s Warbler. I never liked Lucille Ball.
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I absolutely hate those damn vampires, who put those on the ark!?! Our staff birding events are always fun – everyone is traveling into the field so much these days it is tough to find a time when we can get together. I am pretty hit or miss with Lucille, but she does have some pretty funny skits – here comedic timing was really good, but I hated Ricky – that guy was just annoying ha. Thanks for dropping in.
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I have not seen ticks in the valley, but we do have fleas. I give Jake a flea and tick tablet every month. Otherwise, he picks up a lot of fleas rolling in the wild grasses and mulch. Ricky was awful.
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Boys get treated once a month as well, they tend to pick up all kinds of creatures from the woods at home – fleas are worse than ticks, that’s for sure. Glad we agree on Ricky hehehe.
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Sweet little birds. Wonderful shots of them.
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Thank you Anneli! They are definitely a cute little Warbler, but you are too kind on my execution behind the glass – ‘dem birds are hyper ha. Hope all is well in the northwest, we are on our way in that direction.
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Bring a jacket. Spring is slow to arrive here this year.
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Will do, going down to 14 in Wyoming tonight.
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Brrr.
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Certainly not an eye-catching color, but a cute little warbler all the same. LBJ doesn’t really fit as a general description, but LGJ (little grey jobber) does. I agree with B below, even your “not so good” photos are still outstanding. Glad there were no ticks, for any of us, on the IW4 event (still trying to get that acronym to catch on globally).
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How about L’P’Js for little plumbeous jobbers!!! I think the IW4 is getting some traction – I should make shirts for our next outing with that on it.
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Wildlife Intrigued could sponsor an annual IW4 event and have global participants send in their finds from the week, sort of like Photo Walks in the fall. Offer a T-shirt to the best submissions. Just need to get the CEO and Legal to approve it.
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Interesting…or should I say Intriguing. Will give it some thought – although legal will be a pain in the ass.
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Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. Just think of the T-shirt sales from the home page!
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Hmmmmm….
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Lately, I totally empathize with what seems to be an inability to locate and obtain good images of warblers. I hear them. I see them flit from a nicely lit limb to behind a gob of leaves. They vanish into thin air.
For the record, I would be extremely happy with your Lucy portfolio! Nice job. Despite what you may think.
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I am pretty sure these Warblers have to a class soon after hatching to learn how to be absolutely annoying to photographers! As far as the shots, you are too kind, you deserve better! Thanks for dropping in and may your days be sunny and your outings with Gini fulfilling!
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Little cuties. Glad to read you’re fit enough to run 10 miles again!☀️
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I’m slowly getting back on the horse. I’ll get a little break from the long runs while we are traveling, but the moment we come back I’ll start pushing the distances again to hopefully get ready for the big race in October. This has been a long recovery road (officially the longest injury recovery in my life), but I try to look forward and happy where I’m at. Hope all is well out there for you and thanks for dropping in.
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