Food Instincts of the Orange-crowned Warbler

Balaji Devarajan, Class of 2022

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker made a few cuts on the Willow tree to consume the tree sap. It was perched at the same spot for more than two hours. At some point it had enough sap and decided to move on; and almost immediately an Orange-crowned Warbler came out of nowhere to the holes made by the Sapsucker. I was amazed by the instincts of this opportunistic Warbler as it somehow knew when the Sapsucker left the scene and arrived within seconds. The Warbler drank some of the oozing sap, a nutritional food source!

I start the New Year with this interesting
observation, and wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Location – Bonnie Wenk Park, McKinney TX
Date – 1/1/2024