First warbler to arrive and last to leave, Yellow-rumped Warblers never cease to impress me with their various foraging strategies. For the past few days the temperatures have been dipping into the mid to upper teens during the night and barely climbing above freezing during the day. Nevertheless, the Yellow-rumped Warblers at Pheasant Branch Conservancy endure. A couple days ago, Dottie Johnson and I watched a few of them foraging for insects more like a creeper or nuthatch by prying up bark and inspecting beetle holes and sapsucker wells. Sure enough, we were able to observe the warblers finding and consuming food items. Even so, I know from the Yellow-rumped Warbler that spent most of the winter in my backyard last year, they're pretty adaptable to even harsher weather conditions and will consume suet, berries and even safflower and tree sap. Hopefully the weather will warm up soon!
Yellow-rumped Warbler image © 2007 Mike McDowell