Lucy's Warbler
Vermivora luciae
Photo from Pbase.com collection of photographer Thomas Heinrich - please visit his gallery for more wonderful shots. This bird is foraging in a mesquite tree for small insects and spiders and was photographed hear Madera Canyon, Pima Co, Arizona, USA.
When mesquites, palo verdes and willows are adding a new flush of leaves in the spring time there is an abundance of insect prey and Lucy's Warbler's arrival from the neotropics coincides. Mesquite Bosque and edges of riparian habitat in the Sonoran Desert is the preferred habitat. Come autumn these insect-dependent warblers migrate way south and return in April.