Last week may have been a better week to feature some of our more common warblers, but plenty of these beautiful little birds will be passing through or settling into New England this week as well. Each day this week I’ll feature a warbler or two with short text descriptions and, of course, photos. I’ll kick off Birds of New England’s Warbler Week here with a bonus post highlighting two of the warblers I’ve already posted about this spring.

The yellow warblers are one of the most commonly seen warblers in New England. They start arriving in early May and nest throughout the region. They are most likely to be seen in brushy areas near woods. Their “sweet sweet sweet I’m so sweet” song is a common song heard throughout spring and summer.

Yellow warblers make a strong case for capitalizing bird names, which is something I go back and forth on. Whenever I capitalize names, however, it is usually the style of the publication for which I am writing to not capitalize and the capitalization is changed anyway. But consider this: Many warblers have yellow featured prominently in their plumage so there are many bird species that may be considered on some level to be yellow warblers. But there is only one Yellow Warbler and the capitalization makes it clear that that’s the bird I’m talking about.

Yellow warblers are all yellow with brown/rusty streaks on its chest and sides.

Blue-winged warblers are also common and widespread throughout New England. Their insect-like song “buzzzz-beee” is another common sound during a spring walk. They also favor shrubby areas near woods. In my estimation, they are one of the more distinctive looking warblers with bright yellow plumage and thick black eye streak.

Here’s a shot from 2016.