A few weeks back, fellow Extension Agent Thomas Derbes and I were leading a field trip for local high school biology students. We were at Big Lagoon State Park, located along the coast near Perdido Key and truly one of my favorite places in the county.
After a morning botany field survey, we followed a trail down to another section of the park. As we brought up the rear, we came to a section of the wooded trail with a dozen students huddled around a palmetto stand, looking at a bird. Staying motionless while a pile of teenagers hovered over it, we were surprised to find the bird was alive. Unfortunately it seemed quite distressed—hunkered down and shaking a bit. We sent the kids down the trail while a school employee stopped with us to consider what to do.
Kneeling down close, I was stunned at its beauty. The warbler was small and round, with cerulean blue feathers and bright yellow chest feathers. I’m pretty good with fish, trees, and marsh plant identification, but I fully admit I’m terrible at anything but the most obvious birds. Thankfully, the school employee with us happened to be a former National Park Service ranger and avid birder, and she quickly identified the bird as a Northern Parula (Setophaga americana). Her educated guess, confirmed with a call to a friend involved with the Audubon Society, was that it was a “fallout” victim. Fallout occurs when birds (sometimes individuals, other times a large group) migrating together drop out of the flock from exhaustion or difficult environmental conditions. This particular morning was extremely foggy, which could have easily disoriented a tired bird.
This species migrates in early March from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America, crossing the Gulf to the United States. The individual we found likely took a 700-mile trip! As the corny old joke goes, “I flew here. And boy are my arms tired.” Concerned about its vulnerability to natural predators and dogs walking past with their owners, we called the state park rangers for advice. They were unable to take the bird to a wildlife rehab facility, so the school employee got permission to run it to the Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida. We carefully loaded up the bird—Thomas wrapped it in the zip-off legs of his field pants—and placed it in a box. While still alive, it was incredibly weak and didn’t flutter or fight while being moved. To our deep dismay, this gentle little Northern Parula did not survive.
So, I wanted to share this single bird’s story, so others could appreciate its beauty and the long journey it took. Thankfully, the broader Northern Parula population exists in healthy numbers, with numbers tripling in the last 50 years. They breed in habitats like the one we found it in, “humid woods…where Spanish moss hangs from the trees,” and often near bodies of freshwater. They use the Spanish moss, lichens, or pine needles to build nests, and return to the same ones each year.
Their homes are not limited to Florida or the deep South—the species’ territory expands throughout the eastern United States, all the way to the Canadian border. Northern Parulas are primarily insect eaters, although they will take nectar from flowers in their tropical wintering grounds. To attract them to your yard, you’ll want to plant shrubs and trees where they might nesting material or insect prey; they won’t visit feeders. A University of Florida research project found the highest numbers of Northern Parulas lived in suburban neighborhoods with dense vegetation from the ground leading up to the treetops, preferring live oaks and a dense tree canopy in general. These conditions closely mimic the natural woodlands they prefer.
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