Pond Life 1 - The Resident Warbler



Male Common Yellowthroat

 Meet the thumb-sized proprietor of the wooded wetland, with his brassy voice and dashing mask.

Female Common Yellowthroat

He has livened up the glade since early May. He arrived from Central America a week ahead of prospective brides.

While most of the migrating warbler species search for food in the treetops and move on north, Yellowthroats settle down low in dense thickets across Massachusetts. This one advertises his plenteous domain, "Wichety, wichety, wichety."

Water's-edge vegetation supports abundant meals for an agile hunter of bugs, spiders, and grubs.

Lily pads are there for browsing on occasional forages out of the brushy tangles.

The quick-flitting understory life of the Yellowthroat resembles a House wren more than a warbler, and their out-sized vocalizations are strikingly similar.

The Yellowthroat pair have a nest close by. They tend their fledglings by taking carefully disguised routes to the nest. At summer's end all will fly out of the world of the pond on a southward migration of a thousand miles or two.