Pine Warbler

When it comes to warblers, the Yellow-rumped Warbler is the indisputed cold weather champ of the bunch. Most of the warblers that breed or pass through Ohio are long gone, basking in the warm tropical climes of places like Costa Rica, Honduras, even Venezuela. Not so the "butter-butts", which routinely overwinter here, becoming largely frugivorous and eating such botanical delicacies as poison ivy berries.

A close second is the Pine Warbler in terms of hardiness. At least some no doubt winter in Ohio every year, but when they are out in the woods in places like Shawnee Forest, no one is likely to detect them. However, Pine Warblers do have a penchant for visiting feeders, and then become plain as day. Cathy Herms wrote me about a Dendroica pinus that is frequenting her suet feeder in Wooster (county seat of Wayne County). Linda Stoller snapped the followong photos and was good enough to let me put them up.

Pine Warblers also eat seed. I remember being at a B & B in Tennessee a few years back in late winter, and several pines were frequenting the feeders.

Thanks to Cathy for tipping us off about this bird. With all of the people that feed birds anymore, one has to wonder what rarities appear that no one ever hears about. There's probably a Golden-crowned Sparrow hitting someone's feeders right now...