Thursday, November 18, 2010

What Will She Do?

The Townsend's Warbler in Walpole, NH, has attracted birders from around New England. Today there were people from VT, NH, and MA ticking the bird on one of their lists. Occasionally she flitted above the weeds in flycatching mode. Other times she worked her way along the ground searching for insects. Kaufman's Lives ... tells me she eats mostly insects, sometimes seeds, during the winter in the tropics some berries and nectar. There are plenty of berries on the bittersweet twined in the apple trees, but soon there will be much competition with other birds for that source.



But ... predictions for the coming nights call for temperatures in the 20s, and New England winter could descend at any moment. What will she do? ... when the insects are gone and the land is gripped by snow and ice?


Good birding! ... may not always be good for the birds.

8 comments:

Hilke Breder said...

Great capture, the bird holding an insect in her beak.

Dawn Fine said...

Yes, I agree with Hilke great photo.
Glad the two of you got to see this bird..but wish I could have brought it south with me.

Folkways Note Book said...

I hope you are able to give a follow-up on what happened to her -- barbara

Jen Sanford said...

Awwww I hope she makes it!

Chris said...

Beautiful shots Chris. Enjoy it while the weathear condition are still ok, because she might live as soon as they will not be nice to her anymore ;-)

swenglishexpat said...

Great shots, what else? Sometimes you wish you could help, intervene somehow, but you feel powerless. Then again, you really should not. But I certainly would like to prevent some cats around here from attacking the garden birds that I feed!

Susan Ellis said...

Great shots..but poignant..it was well below zero here last night, and it snowed as well...no tgreat for warblers

Vickie said...

Chris, these images are absolutely stunning. And you are so right, what's good for birders is not necessarily good for the bird. Hopefully, the urge to move south will happen soon.

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