A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Prothonotary Warbler

I went out to Couchville Lake at Long Hunter State Park in Hermitage, TN, today, about 10 miles from my house with hopes of seeing a Prothonotary Warbler there. They are usually fairly numerous there this time of year. Welp, my hunch paid off. Not the best of pictures, but they were definitely there!


PROTHONOTARY WARBLER





In addition to the Warblers, I got pictures of a Barn Swallow on the nest, Purple Martins, and a White-Tailed Deer!

pretty colors.

It is a pretty bird. Can you tell me what Prothonotary means?

I looked online and found this explanation of Prothonotary:

"This bird was named after officials in the Roman Catholic Church known as the protonotarii, who wore golden robes."

It is the only Warbler that nests in cavities (Dead hollow trees, Hollow fence posts, and man-made nest boxes). They are ALWAYS found within 50 - 100 feet of water, usually lakes and like to forage for food in low dense bushes near water, EXACTLY the type of cover where I photographed these birds today.

Cool, thank you. It was such a different word, not Latin. I wondered but was too lazy to look too hard.