“Fragile Beauty” Prairie Warbler

I feel blessed to have viewed  this active, beautiful bird during its spring and fall migrations in Georgia. The wild aster flower compliments the birds’ colors and delicacy. It was very challenging to weld together out of tiny pieces of metal. Despite its name, prairie warblers do not prefer open prairies. Instead, it lives in shrubby habitats created after a disturbance – a fire, a wind storm, a tree-killing insect or disease outbreak, or a timber harvest – opens up the forest canopy. The warblers have declined throughout most of their range. In fact, the North American Breeding Bird Survey estimates a population decline approaching 2 percent per year between 1966 and 2014, amounting to a cumulative decline of 66 percent during that period. The prairie warbler is listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in 17 eastern states. Management practices that increase the amount of young forests can also help these warblers though.