Yellow-throated Warbler

Wow. A brilliantly colorful Yellow-throated Warbler just spent several minutes in a water oak tree in our front yard. It looked magical. The sun had just come out after a thunder shower and briefly heavy rain, the clouds had passed quickly, leaving deep blue sky and new-green leaves wet and dripping, and a chilly wind was blowing – and there, among the leaves and catkins of the oak moved a sleek, slender, little gray bird with a long thin bill, and stunning black and white markings, and a bright yellow throat that blazed in the sunlight. It crept over the branches of the oak, probing into the bark and crevices and among the leaves and catkins.

Its head and back looked dark bluish-gray, its face was marked with a broad white stripe above the eye, and black around the eye and down the cheek, and a striking white patch on the side of the neck. Its belly was white, with dark streaks on the sides – and the yellow throat shined.

It looked as if it had gathered the gray clouds, wind and rain, with the clearing sky and glistening sun of the past few minutes together, and reshaped them into the form of a bird.

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