A Yellow Warbler Nest: Part 1

June 23 2018, 10:38 AM. A trail through a ribbon of urban forest on the south of shore of the North Saskatchewan River, in the Edmonton River Valley.

I spotted some movement in the forest shrubs. A female Yellow Warbler. She was building a nest! She moved about in the nest for a while, then sat in it as if incubating eggs, testing its fit.

 

 

 
Then she hopped onto the lip of the nest and flew away.

 

 
I took a photo of the area, so I would remember the location of the nest.

 
The nest is in the middle of the photo, behind the shrubs, about two meters from the clearing, and was only visible if I stood in one particular spot. When I returned later, with shrub growth and branch movement, the nest was no longer visible from the clearing. Luckily, I found a new viewing tunnel through the leaves, on a trail to the right of the forested area.

A minute after leaving, the warbler returned with a piece of balsam poplar seed fluff in her beak. After trying a few different options, she wove the cottony fluff into her nest.