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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Yellow-throated Vireo and Cerulean Warbler

[Port Huron SGA. May/June 2015]

In the imaginary scenario depicted in the recent Oscar-winning movie "Interstellar", a group of explorers try to find another planet suited for human sustenance as the Earth's environment degrades beyond inhabitability. 

On this new home, one oft muses how the Earth's "old guard" would describe the blue planet's many wonders to the new generation -- those who have never been witness to the azure blue of the sky, the gold expanse of the deserts, the sapphire depths of the seas or the emerald swaths of forest. 

A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. And, indeed, perhaps the best way to explain the blueness of sky is through this:





For nothing conjures up the shimmering blue of the sky than the incomparable Cerulean Warbler -- a songbird whose very name takes after the sky:






A favorite of birding aesthetes, the Cerulean Warbler is a scarce breeder in Michigan. This resplendent male was sighted at Shoefelt Rd, Port Huron SGA. Coincidentally, the Cerulean was first sighted on the same tree as this, our most colorful vireo:





Unlike the Cerulean Warbler which is classified as "Vulnerable", the Yellow-throated Vireo is a widespread summer breeder in the Eastern US and is listed at "Least Concern".

It is through iconic species such as the Cerulean Warbler and the Yellow-throated Vireo that we are reminded that it is in Nature that we see most clearly, for those who care to look, Earth's wonders manifested in their fullest and most vibrant forms.

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