I love the poses of this bright yellow Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) that I spotted last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The warbler was actively twisting, turning, and stretching as it foraged for food and amazingly was perched quite low in the vegetation—most of the times in the past I have seen Prothonotary Warblers high in the trees and was forced to shoot them from an unflattering sharp upward angle.
Quite often when I am focusing on a wildlife subject, it moves. Most of the time the result is a blurry image, but sometimes I end up with a really cool shot. The Prothonotary Warbler took off just as I pressed the shutter release and I was lucky to capture it in action, as you can see in the final photo.
The yellow plumage of a Prothonotary Warbler is startlingly bright and cheerful. Invariably the sight of a Prothonotary Warbler makes me think of Tweety Bird, a character from Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons that I remember from my childhood. I think that Tweety was supposed to be a canary, but he didn’t really look like a canary. Often Tweety had adventures with Sylvester the cat, the subject of Tweety’s signature line, ” “I tawt I taw a puddy tat!””
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Very nice captures of this cheerful fellow, Mike!
These are fabulous, Mike. I’ve never seen a prothonotary warbler. It is as beautiful as a goldfinch! I remember those cartoons with Tweety and Sylvester, and “I tawt I taw a puddy tat!”
Great shots! I especially love the second one because the bird appears to be inspecting something with curiosity. I love the way the vivid green leaves glowing in the sunshine adds to the brightness of the yellow plumage.
I think you’re dating yourself with your Tweety Bird reference! I remember those cartoons well, but some of my younger work colleagues had no idea what I was talking about (I was chuckling at the reference. When I explained, they just looked at me like I’ve already got dementia!). LOL
I’m definitely dating myself. The younger generations “missed out” on Looney Toons, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and other classic cartoons of the 1960’s. Some of them have never listened to music on cassette tapes, though vinyl records have seen a resurgence.
Some of them don’t even know what a rotary phone was! It just makes me feel old (which I don’t feel most of the time even though I am)!
A beautiful bird that looks so fragile.
A cutie!
Outstanding George Draney new follower a retired photo conservationist Very appreciative Thanks
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Thanks, George.