Dear birders,

On Saturday I saw a female Yellow-rumped Warbler carrying a small piece of vegetation.  There was a male with her and they frequented the same spot for nearly 20 minutes as I watched them.  I found this to be a bit puzzling.  Why would a Yellow-rumped Warbler be carrying nesting material in a place that is quite far from it's normal nesting range?  That's the first question and the second question is if any of you have ever seen migrants carrying nesting materials during migration?

The Details of this Observation:
I made this observation on a ridge top in Wayne County West Virginia.  I know it's not Ohio, but it's darn close to Ohio and there are many ridges very similar to this in south east Ohio.  The first likely place nearby that comes to my mind as a possible nesting location for yellow-rumpeds is Shawnee.  To my knowledge, in West Virginia the nearest location where you can find nesting yellow-rumpeds is in Preston County just outside of the town of Terra Alta.  This is in the northeast corner of the state near the Maryland border.  

I made this observation on Saturday May 10th.  It was definitely a male and female, with the female carrying nesting material.  There were other yellow-rumpeds around that day on the same ridge.  I watched this pair for 20-30 minutes and then left for nearly one hour.  I returned twice that day and did not see the birds again.  I also did not hear a male singing in that area.

If a Yellow-rumped Warbler pair were to nest in western WV, then we should start considering this bird as a possibility for southern and south east Ohio.  It would obviously make a great Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas record.  There are some fantastic birders here in the Huntington area who will no doubt keep an eye on this location during the summer.  I'm about to return to Ohio for a few months, so I won't be able to keep tabs on the site.  If by chance these yellow-rumpeds are nesting I'll let the Ohio listserve know, so that we can consider the possibility that they could nest in the Buckeye State.   

Until then if anyone has ever seen a migrant such as this carrying nesting material during migration, I'd be interested to hear about it.  Maybe it's just something they do and I've never seen it before?  Let me know if you have any ideas.

Scott Albaugh
Huntington, WV (Ohio boy at heart)



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