Nashville Warbler and Northern Parula on the Little Miami Bike Trail

I only had an hour to run over to the Little Miami Bike Trail to try to catch a few warblers, but there's usually something interesting to see there within minutes, so I wasn't worried. Cape May Warblers had been reported in our area, and I was hoping to find one, but none were at the trail.  I did, however, catch one of my favorite warblers, a Nashville Warbler, doing a few acrobatic stunts as he chased after insects and caterpillars! I love this little bird with his conspicuous eye ring and bright yellow chest. He's migrating through Ohio now, and most will be gone by May 20 (usually). Large numbers of Nashville Warblers move through the Ohio Valley on their way north, arriving in Cincinnati at the end of April and peaking in numbers around mid May. Since April 25, I've seen about 14 Nashville Warblers and get excited every time I see one. 

This little fellow is so sweet. He looks like 

he's having fun chasing after his lunch!

A few Northern Parulas were out too. These are not the best photos, but you can see a feature unique to parulas. If you look closely, you can see his lower mandible is yellow, which blends in with the yellow of his throat. 

Can you see his lower yellow bill?  Also...if you look at

the underside of the branch, you can see where 

the cicadas that invaded our region early 

last summer did a bit of munching!

The Northern Parula has a black necklace (called a breast 

band) and a rufous-colored bib (which is fairly faint in this 

photo but was more pronounced in the binocs). The rufous 

bib makes it easy to distinguish Northern Parulas from 

below.) These tiny little birds nest in the Ohio Valley, 

although some may be migrating through. 

It doesn't matter how often I see a deer on the trail, 

I still stop and am amazed! They are so big and 

powerful...and these deer are young!