April 23, 2022 - Prothonotary Warbler at Ken Euers Nature Park

Down Every Road Adventures  April 23, 2022

Prothonotary Warbler at Ken Euers Nature Park

We headed to Ken Euers Nature Park on Saturday. With a forecast of 70 degrees, it was time to take off some of the layers of clothing, no mittens, no coat, and no winter hat today. Ken Euers is a Nature Park located in Green Bay Wisconsin.

When we arrived the park was busy with birders with spotting scopes, binoculars, and notebooks, there was a bird count going on.  We even unexpectedly met up with a fellow photographer.  

We spent all day here, exploring a path I had never been on before.

What did I see today? I saw a Prothonotary Warbler.  I got to spend a little time sitting on the path while this little guy was helping himself to someone else's dinner.  He was plucking all the bugs off of a spider web.

I have been told that this is a rare siting. This bird usually doesn't make it to Wisconsin, they stay south of this state.

This Prothonotary Warbler bounced around the branches next to the waterway it was staying low in the branches and the bank.

This warbler has a loud ringing song that can help guide you to them even before you see them.  April–July are the months they spend in the upper part of the U.S.

In the research I did, apparently, this warbler builds their nests in holes of standing dead trees. A "swamp warbler" because they like it along river banks and ponds.

Its population is declining, due to the loss of forested wetlands in the U.S. and mangroves on its wintering grounds.