On Nantucket Sunday morning the local birding group found a male Townsend’s Warbler, the first time the species has been identified on the island. The Townsend's Warbler is usually restricted to the Pacific Northwest.
The North American wood warblers are highly migratory birds that spend most of their time in the New World tropics, visiting our region only briefly during migration. These brightly colored marvels are reaching the peak of their annual spring migration over the next couple of weeks. They are brilliantly marked and singing in spring; in the fall they are much drabber and quiet, making them seem like completely different birds.
Also this spring another notable migrant, a male Yellow-throated Warbler, has been visiting a suet feeder on Nantucket. The last Yellow-Throated Warbler seen on the island came more than 5 years ago.
Listen the the Weekly Bird Report audio essay above.
Be sure to click through the bird slideshow at the top of this post.