Tag: A Gentle Feast

Yellow patches are all you need to recognize Fidget when he is flitting about in the forest. Burgess describes him as a “black and gray bird with a yellow cap, yellow sides, and a yellow patch at the root of his tail” (Burgess, p. 132, Living Book Press edition). You may have noticed that he is called a Myrtle Warbler in Burgess’ classic “The Burgess Bird Book for Children.” Cornell Lab has a really helpful section on why Burgess would have referred to him as a Myrtle Warbler:

The Yellow-rumped Warbler has two distinct subspecies that used to be considered separate species: the “Myrtle” Warbler of the eastern U.S. and Canada’s boreal forest, and “Audubon’s” Warbler of the mountainous West. The Audubon’s has a yellow throat; in the Myrtle subspecies the throat is white. Male “Audubon’s” Warblers have more white in the wing than the “Myrtle” Warbler. Female Audubon’s have less distinctly marked faces, lacking the dark ear patches of the “Myrtle” Warbler. Intermediate forms occur where the two subspecies’ breeding ranges overlap, such as in the Canadian Rockies.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/id

These regional differences are considered to be subspecies now instead of a complete separate species. It is always interesting to see Audubon’s name attached to a bird, isn’t it? You can find a picture here in order to see the differences in coloring.

Watch a great video by Lyco Birds here on Youtube. Bobby does a good job of showing the variations of coloring and field markers for identification. Our Fidget has very dark black markings around the face, but you can find Yellow-rumped Warblers with brownish, lighter markings as well. Since these are one of the most prevalent species of Warblers, it’s good to know how to identify them in the field.

Here is our gathering from Fidget:

Until next time, keep on birding! <3 Kate

More Burgess Birds in Detail

Burgess Bird Pages

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Thornton W. Burgess writes about Chut-Chut being a little different from the other Warblers. He mentions the Yellow-breasted Chat’s difference in size, being a little larger than other Warblers, and even his cautious behavior. This is a really interesting case for those who love Natural History because at the time that “The Burgess Bird Book for Children” was written and up until the 2010s, the Yellow-breasted Chat was a part of the Warbler family. With further research over years and years, this bird’s size, difference in behavior, and taxonomy led to grouping it into its own family: Icteriidae. (source: allaboutbirds.org)

The best time to find a Yellow-breasted Chat is during the Spring, when they are most likely to be sharing all of their beautiful songs. You can listen to it’s varied songs and calls here: Yellow-breasted Chat Song by American Bird Conservancy on Youtube

Here is our gathering about this interesting fellow Chut-Chut:

Until next time, keep birding! <3 Kate

The Living Books Press link above contains an affiliate link, so I may receive a small payment if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

I would love to meet someone named Sunshine, wouldn’t you? Peter Rabbit meets Sunshine in Ch. 24 of Thornton W. Burgess’ classic, “The Burgess Bird Book for Children.” Sunshine is a Yellow Warbler and perfectly named for his bright yellow feathers, although he isn’t entirely yellow but also has reddish brown streaks on his breast and black on his wings and tail. As I’ve said before, Warblers are very fast so if you have a chance to see one perched on a branch, it would be good to grab some binoculars and see if you can find his streaks.

Sunshine has a really interesting conversation with Peter Rabbit. The topic of that conversation is Sally Sly, the Brown-headed Cowbird, and how she laid her egg in their nest. The amazing thing that we found was that allaboutbirds speaks about the very same thing that Sunshine tells in his story.

Let’s hear it from him first. Peter asks Sunshine if they threw Sally Sly’s egg out of their nest after finding it:

“No, replied Sunshine. “Our nest was too deep for us to get that egg out. We just made a second bottom in our nest right over that egg and built the sides of the nest a little higher. Then we took good care that she didn’t have a chance to lay another egg in there.”

Thornton W. Burgess, The Burgess Bird Book, Living Books Press edition, p. 122

For a better look at what Sunshine is describing, check out Mary Holland’s picture of a Yellow Warbler Nest on her blog Naturally Curious with Mary Holland. She describes the parasitic relationship Cowbirds have with Yellow Warblers, in particular, and their solution.

I can see why Sunshine and his wife are proud, because a Yellow Warbler’s nest looks particularly soft: check out Don Weiss’ video of a Yellow Warbler female building her nest on YouTube

Here is the rest of our gathering for Sunshine:

Until next time, keep birding! <3 Kate

The Living Books Press link above contains an affiliate link, so I may receive a small payment if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.