Friday's Foto

The Pine Warbler is the first species of neotropic songbird of the wood-warbler family to appear in our area during spring migration. Most of their population winters within southern North America and begins their northward movement in late February, arriving by early April in southern Great Lakes, mid-April in New England, and late April–early May in northernmost breeding areas. As their name implies they are regularly found among pine trees, where they build their nests. Primarily an insectivore, during the fall and winter they frequently eat large quantities of seeds, the only wood-warbler known to do so. The IUCN Red List lists this species as "Least Concern". Due to increasing populations they are not listed on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List. Their recently changed scientific name, Setophaga pinus, means Gr. ses moth;-phagos-eating; L. pinus pine-tree.