I just returned from a trip to Southeastern Arizona. The objective of this adventure was to capture images of as many warbler species as possible. So, what are warblers and why did I go to Arizona to find them?

Warblers are a group of small birds, often very colorful and produce rich musical songs. We are very fortunate because our New World warblers are very different from warblers in other parts of the world. The “New World” refers to the America’s. In other words, our warblers are not found in Europe, Asia or Africa.

We have approximately 120 different species of warbler. Most of these birds are arboreal, which means they live in the trees, many of them inhabit the tops of the trees making them sometimes very difficult to see. They are insect eaters, so a good supply of bugs is very important to their survival.

Warblers are mostly found in the eastern half of the country where most deciduous forest can be found. So why would I travel to the deserts of Arizona for warblers? High up on mountains in Southeastern Arizona, around 8,000-foot elevation, is a group of warblers that are not found in the eastern half of the country, and it is these birds that I was after.

Each morning, we would get up and drive up into the mountains. It would take 1.5 hours to drive up to the location where the warblers were located. Down in the desert the temperatures where plenty warm but up in the high elevations it was cold most mornings. Since warblers are insect eaters the cold temperatures kept insect activity down which wasn’t helping us.

The forecast each day was for clear skies and sunshine. This is definitely not ideal weather conditions for bird photography. The strong sun casts unpleasing shadows and also creates hot spots in the image while leaving other parts of the image underexposed. This meant that we needed to capture our images in the early morning light before the sun got too high in the sky. The challenge was to get up to the birds as early as possible then not waste any time once we located one of the warblers.

Here in the eastern half of the country, I can identify nearly every bird by its song. This makes it much easier when trying to locate a specific species. However, up in the mountains of Arizona I was at a distinct disadvantage because I didn’t know the songs of the warblers we were trying to see and photograph. This slowed down the process of finding and identifying each species.

The first few days were cold and crisp. This meant the birds were struggling to find enough insects to survive. By day four, the temperatures were slowly rising, and the warblers were able to find more insects. This allowed the warblers to move lower down in the trees and more visible. And that was the break we were looking for.

The last four days we were able to locate and capture a few amazing images of the warblers we were hoping to find. One species in particular was extra gratifying, the Red-faced Warbler. It’s a species that lives in mountain forests from 6,500 to 9,000-foot elevations mainly in northern Mexico and into Arizona and New Mexico. While it took almost a week to track down and capture a few images of this cool bird it was definitely worth it..  Until next time…

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and capture images of wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and www.instagram.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.