Tennessee Warbler

Tennessee Warbler fuels up at the oriole feeder on our deck. Margaret Madsen photo

If there were an award given to the most enthusiastic bird singer, the Tennessee Warbler must surely be in the running. He exuberantly whistles three notes followed by three higher pitched notes and ending with a long l-o-n-g staccato trill. I have to smile when I watch him sing because as he nears the end of his song, his v-notched tail vibrates with the effort of forcing the last air from his lungs to finish his trill.

John, on the other hand, is not so enamoured of this little singer because he has decided that the green ash outside our bedroom is the perfect place to launch into song and with our bedroom window open, his early morning caroling is enough to waken the soundest sleeper.

This is among the most drab of the warblers. He has an olive back, gray head, thin white eyebrow and white breast during breeding season. The female is duller with a more yellowy wash overall, perfect camouflage to blend in with the color of sunshine on leaves. In the fall, the male looks more like the female.

It was a thrill for me to see the first Tennessee Warbler of the spring stop to sip at the oriole feeder. It was a one-day only occurrence - he must have found a regular diet elsewhere in Naicam.