#man especially when they're in crisp brand new breeding plumage??? wowza!!

[proton-wobbler]

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) - (Setophaga coronata audubonii)

Chadron State Park - Fall 2023

One of my favorite fall warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers often get this rich brown coloring in the fall that feels warmer to me than other brown-ish warblers. That's just a personal thing, though. These are the most common winter warbler in North America. While most other warblers have to move to warmer climates to continue catching bugs, Yellow-rumped Warblers can withstand cooler climates and enjoy eating fruit as much as insects, a food source that continues to be available through-out the winter.

Audubon's Warblers are the subspecies of YRWA in the western states, though they can still turn up in the East every now and then. In this fall plumage, they're most easily told from Myrtle Warblers (the Eastern subspecies) by their buttery yellow throats, though often times they also have more white in their tail and less streaking along their flanks. In breeding plumage the two are much easier to tell apart (but that's a post for another day).

All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's BBL. Permission to share images was granted by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCR).