Juvenile Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

The last couple weeks of fall migration, warblers and others have been following the sapsuckers as they drilled holes in the rows of homestead elms lining either side of the center “naturally planted” section of Daley Bicentennial Plaza. The birds are drinking sap from the wells drilled by the woodpeckers.

Orange-Crowned Warbler

We are still seeing Orange-Crowned Warblers and Yellow-Rumped Warblers. The Yellow-Rump below was putting on quite a show when I took this picture last week: he kept hovering around his favorite saphole like a hummingbird.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

The Tennessee Warblers like the one below are sometimes confused with Orange-Crowned, especially this time of year.

Tennessee Warbler

There have been a lot of Red-Breasted Nuthatches this fall, and the one below, drinking sap, is no exception.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

Some of the first warblers noticed were Black-Throated Blues. Here’s a female, and below her, a male – although I did not get a picture of him drinking, it’s almost a wonder he let me photograph him at all. He behaved like a celebrity tired of paparazzi.

Female Black-Throated Blue Warbler

Male Black-Throated Blue Warbler

Cape Mays aren’t always cooperative either.

Cape May Warbler

I took several pictures of this Ruby-Crowned Kinglet yesterday, but the midday sun was brutal and I discarded most of them.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

There could still be a lot of sapsuckers coming through…and following them, their fans of many colors and configurations.

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

But as the leaves disappear…so will these migrants.