May marks a special time in Wisconsin, when the weight of warblers might tip the scales equaling a dozen units of Packers offensive linemen. If you were Paul Bunyan and trounced the woods with a net like an insect researcher, you might capture dozens of warblers. The most impressive looking, perhaps, would be the jack-o-lantern Halloween orange Blackburnian Warbler. The female sports a cream colored face (unlike the male) with two white wing bars (like the male).

Making its way from the foothills and forests of the Andes along the western range of South America, the Blackburnian Warbler has just arrived in Wisconsin. Today, the northern extent of their push is around the Baraboo Hills.

Blackburnian Warbler’s range map, courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology and allaboutbirds.org

While these birds can be seen at eye level when they are a part of flocks of warblers in famed “drop-outs” along the Great Lakes and larger inland lakes ahead of approaching storms, the Blackburnian Warbler is most common among the treetops. I've strained my neck for many Blackburnian Warblers, only ever seeming to get cruddy views.

One of those views occurred in northern Wisconsin and involved physical therapy for my neck for the next month after I watched the Blackburnian territorial display that involved “moth-like” flight; I could barely keep up, and followed the whirring and twittering with lagging focus.

On those northern Wisconsin haunts, Blackburnian Warblers prefer coniferous forests of spruce, pine, or hemlock. Where is saw these territorial birds, old growth hemlock trees were present. You can find these birds on their breeding range across the northern third of Wisconsin, with some outliers in central Wisconsin and the Baraboo Hills.

On migration, you can find Blackburnian Warblers at Faville Grove today, potentially in any wooded area. Do some neck exercises before you have a look.

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward

Cover photo by Monica Hall