Sisters Country birds

The brightly colored Yellow Warbler [Dendroica petechia] spends the winter in Central America, and will soon be migrating 2,000 to 4,000 miles to breed in shrubby streamside areas around Sisters.

The migration route is very treacherous, as the Yellow Warbler flies over the Gulf of Mexico from Yucatan to Texas and Louisiana. Soon after arrival on their breeding grounds, the males begin to select their territories and defend them, singing their bright songs from perches around the nesting area. The female builds a nest made of grasses with plant fibers woven throughout in four to five days and lays four to six greenish-to-spotted-white eggs, which hatch in 10 to 13 days. The fledglings are fed a diet of mostly caterpillars, beetles, and wasps, and leave the nest in 10-13 days.

While in South America, including the Galapagos Islands, the Yellow Warbler has a dramatic effect on coffee plantations. By gleaning boring beetles they can reduce the beetle infestation by 50 percent. The Cowbird is the Yellow Warbler’s enemy, laying its egg in the warbler nest; the larger fledgling crowds the smaller chicks out and dominates the feedings causing the warbler chicks to die of starvation.

A group of warblers is called a “bouquet,” a “fall,” a “wrench,” or a “confusion.” For more Yellow Warbler images visit http://abirdsingsbecauseithasasong.com/recent-journeys.