Cerulean Warbler nest at Skinner SP with cooperative breeding occurring

Cerulean Warbler female with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler male with leg bands and female with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler male with leg bands and female with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler adult male without bands with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

American Redstart carrying food, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

I got a text from jack yesterday letting me know he found a Cerulean Warbler nest at Skinner State Park and the nestlings looked about ready to fledge.  I was in the middle of a project at home yesterday so could not break free to make the trip over to see them.  I hoped they would still be around this morning when I had some free time.  Armed with the rough location of the nest I arrived at Skinner SP before sunrise and made the hike up the mountain.  On the hike up I ran across a number of warblers with a few carrying food to unseen nestlings or fledglings.  Once I arrived near the site of the nest I had a male carrying food and then disappearing into the trees toward the yet unseen nest.  The male I saw appeared to have bands (white bands meaning it was the individual banded this year).  As I continued my search for the nest Jack arrived and with his directions I was able to finally find the nest.  Initially the nestlings stayed hunkered down low in the nest and it was tough to even see if there anything in the nest but as the morning wore on the nestlings became more active and the adults increased their trips to the nest with food.  We got to see the adult female arrive on multiple occasions and spend a little time around the nest before disappearing to get more food for the nestlings.  We had the banded male show up briefly on multiple occasions and even had an unbanded adult male show up to assist with feeding the nestlings.  Jack mentioned he observed this behavior yesterday too and from a bit of research this type of cooperative breeding is quite rare with the species.  Having a banded male around was the only thing that made this observation possible and the two males never were at the nest at the same time.  Another great reason to color band individuals so you can see this behavior.  After about an hour and a half of observing the nest and talking with Jack I headed back down and once again had a number of warblers.  Jack stayed and after a few more hours all three nestlings fledged from the nest and started their lives outside the nest and out in the big world.  Eventually they will make the long migration down to South America for the winter before making a return trip north to breed.