Date: 9/15/25 6:59 am From: SCOTT WEIDENSAUL <000001343b2dd726-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: Warblers drinking nectar
I suspect we find the notion of warblers drinking nectar surprising because we have a skewed, temperate-zone bias about what warblers are “supposed” to eat.
Cape Mays are a great example — they may be insectivorous in summer, but they depend so heavily on nectar and fruit on their Caribbean non-breeding grounds that their tongues have evolved to more efficiently lap liquid, being somewhat tubular and slightly fringed. I’ve seen Cape Mays defending patches of flowers on blossoming mango trees in Jamaica, chasing away red-billed streamertail hummingbirds. And while not warblers, eastern kingbirds undergo a remarkable Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation in diet and behavior, switching from highly territorial obligate insectivores in North America to highly gregarious fruit-eaters in Amazonia, flocking together by the thousands.
Scott Weidensaul
Milton, NH (formerly Schuylkill Co.)
> On Sep 15, 2025, at 9:12 AM, Michael Fialkovich <0000012b4af48ab0-dmarc-request...> wrote:
>
> Interesting. I've seen Cape May warblers in spring dipping their bills into Black Willow flowers during migration to extract the nectar. I've also seen Tennessee Warblers (and have a photo of one) sipping nectar from flowers in Costa Rica.
>
> I also saw a Black-throated Blue Warbler once at Presque Isle visiting sapsucker wells to sip the sap.
>
>
> Mike Fialkovich
> Pittsburgh Area, Allegheny County
>
>
> On Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 04:12:52 PM EDT, Franklin Haas <fhaasbirds...> wrote:
>
> Two years ago I had 2 Black-throated Blue Warblers drinking the nectar out
> of my Cuphea (Mexican Cigar Plants). Just now, I had a Tennessee Warbler
> doing the same.
>
> Frank Haas
>
> Wisdom begins with putting the right name to a thing.
>
