Winter Lineup: Yellow Rumped Warbler

Our last regular winter bird is a curiosity: a winter-only warbler.  The Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) is another Canada-in-the-summertime species.  Like the other warblers they're faily colorful but we miss the really fine plumage one would see in summer.  But it's good enough for a dull winter here.  They're drawn to woody edges which we have in abundance in our neighborhood, and are easily attracted with suet and peanut butter.  Ours really only get going in the feeders after the New Year (I suspect they need the time to strip clear our nearby wax myrtles of their berries) and once they're in they can be rather aggressive.  We had one pestiferous male last winter who was so bad I actually enjoyed seeing the warblers leave for good.  Perhaps they'll be a little more reasonable this year!