What is more exciting than a Blackburnian Warbler? Getting a glimpse of these spectacular birds is always inspiring. Because they favor the tops of trees, my most common view tends to be looking straight up at their bellies. Indeed, this is one of those species that delivers serious “warbler neck” to birders during migration. I invariably end up with a stiff neck after watching them through my binoculars.
Despite being such a brightly colored bird, they are hard to pick out against the foliage they choose to forage in. Most often I’m alerted to their presence by their high-pitched call. Then I know it’s time to start searching the nearby tree tops.
I’ve painted Blackburnian Warblers three times now. I used to try to consistently paint new species, avoiding repetition. As I’ve gotten older, though, I care less about that and instead paint whatever captures my interest at the moment. Seeing these birds against a perfect blue sky is a magical birding moment, so I tried to capture that in this painting, venturing to leave things a little less rendered than my usual efforts.
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