Lucy's Warbler
Vermivora luciae
This bird is foraging in a palo verde
tree for small insects and spiders and was photographed hear Harquahala Mountains,
Maricopa Co, Arizona, USA. May 2020.
Find more photos of birds in the Pbase.com collection of
photographer Thomas Heinrich - please visit his
gallery for more wonderful shots.
When mesquite trees, palo verdes and willows are adding a flush of new leaves in the spring, there is an abundance of insect prey and Lucy's Warbler's arrival from the Neotropics coincides. Mesquite Bosque and edges of riparian habitat in the Sonoran Desert are the preferred habitats. Come autumn these insect-dependent warblers migrate way south to the Neotropics and return to the Sonoran Desert around April each year. Quite an amazing feat for an animal that weighs between two and three USA dimes (10c coin).