Life and Wildlife along the Little Buffalo River

I ran into the male Blue-Winged Yellow Warbler very early this morning; and had to use a high ISO setting to photograph him while he was gleaning insects from leaves. The high ISO setting leaves the photographs grainy.   Not only does this guy have pronounced blueish-gray wings but he also wears a black mask.

They forage mostly in upper half of trees and shrubs and probes dead leaf clusters in winter. Often hangs upside down.

NW Arkansas is the southernmost section of their breeding grounds.

Brightly colored but easily overlooked. A bird of shrubland and old fields, the Blue-winged Warbler expanded its breeding grounds northward throughout the 20th century. They have a make a nest that is an open cup of grasses, bark and dead leaves. Leaves may form cap over eggs. Usually on or near ground.