Saturday, July 28, 2012

Nectar Hungry Northern Parulas

Birds never cease to amaze me. Today I caught a family of Northern Parulas feeding on something I had never seen them feed on before. Flower nectar.

I was drawn to the backdoor by the calls of the Titmouse family arriving at the feeders. I enjoy watching them but this time of year I am on the lookout for warblers. Migration is already underway. I soon spotted some warbler-sized birds joining the Titmice so I had to grab the binoculars. An entire family of Parula was moving through.

Northern Parula

Before I could grab the camera, I noticed that they weren't grabbing bugs much. Instead, they were concentrating on the Fire Spike blooms. Then dipping their beaks inside for sips!

Northern Parula

They were difficult to catch in action as they sipped and then flew down to the bird bath for a quick splash but I did get one tucked inside a flower.

Northern Parula

The Northern Parulas continued this for several minutes before heading back up into the oaks for some more hardy fare.

Northern Parula

Northern Parula are regular breeders in the area so they are not the Fall migrants I was hoping to see. However, it was still a new discovery!

1 comment:

Dawn Fine said...

Very cool! Great shots!