The field season has officially started in Northern NH!
Male Common Yellowthroat warbler (COYE): This fellow is defending a small territory in a patch of open thicket. These warblers rely on early succession forest- patches of substrate that haven’t really grown in yet- to build cryptic, ground-level nests. They develop complex systems to divert/confuse predators away from their nests.
Female Black-throated Blue Warbler (BTBW): I was lucky to see this female. She is paired with a male who defends a large mature forest territory. They have quite a few BTBW neighbors, which makes for a lot of skirmishes among the males over land. The females are often silent and move very fast…
Male Mourning Warbler (MOWA): This is a rare bird here. Even more amazing, it is defending a territory in our research site- and trying to chase out a male COYE while doing so. The two species “share” resources, which means thy can’t stand each other. Each time the male COYE sings near the MOWA, it gets berated and chased away- and vice versa. It appears the COYE isn’t budging either, probably because it hasn’t had this domestic, neighborly problem before.
-Jess