“My Heart Exults ~ Common Yellowthroat,” an original contemporary acrylic wildlife painting, copyright artist Susan A . Walton, S. A. Walton Studio, Hudson, Florida.

This nature painting features one of my favorite species, a warbler known as the Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas,) and though it is common, it is not often seen. It prefers dense cover in wetlands. Many of us know its song long before seeing the bird- its call is hard to mistake for anything else : “whichity, whichity, whichity!”

This is a male, which has the characteristic black throat that is lacking in the female, who is, of course, even more difficult to spot. They are very much attracted to the sound of water, and favor marshes like those near where I was raised in the American Bottoms along the Mississippi River.

The first time I saw a yellowthroat was long ago in the family garden back in Illinois, and it had just emerged from a clump of Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohioensis.) This was the tradescantia species most common in my neck of the woods in the Midwest, as well as here in Florida where I now reside, one of my favorite native wildflowers. The plant’s three-petal blooms are a beautiful blue in normal light, sometimes appearing more purple, each with anthers heavily loaded with golden pollen. As a result, they are almost always buzzing with pollinators like honey bees and bumble bees early in the day before the short-lived flowers wilt.

The spiderwort was planted next to a tiny garden pond that I had improvised using an old tractor-trailer tarp, some interesting rocks, and a small submersible pump. The sound of water gurgling, trickling or splashing is a sure-fire way to attract many birds, and to my delight, the little stream of water produced by the pump had managed to attract a pair of these reclusive beauties. Even though they never came to our bird feeder, they clearly enjoyed the water, which is one reason people should include a water feature in their yard - they are proven to attract birds even if there is no feeder at all, and will draw in unexpected species which may otherwise go unnoticed.

I hope you enjoy this painting and other avian art on my web site, so please keep browsing.

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