Myrtle warbler

“ A myrtle warbler, less recently come, and from a less distance, has taken possession of a dead treetop, hardly higher than a man’s head, from which he makes an occasional sally after a passing insect. Between whiles he sings. Once I heard a snowbird, as I thought; but it was only the myrtle warbler when I came to look. An oven-bird shoots into the air out of the forest below for a burst of aerial afternoon music. ”

“ The myrtle warbler is one of the first migrants to move northward. A large flight struck the Alligator Reef lighthouse February 23, 1892, and some 60 birds struck the Sombrero Key lighthouse March 3, 1889. By the middle of March migration is well under way over all the winter range, and the foremost birds keep close behind the disappearance of frost. * * * By the last of March all the myrtle warblers have departed from Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas. The latest recorded date of striking of this species at any of the Florida lighthouses is April 3, 1889. ”

“ Males seeking mates “made advances to the female contingency, hopping from twig to twig with outspread wings, chipping and fluttering, now repulsed by the fair one, and now accepted by another one to whom advances were made, to finally spend a few days in a favorable spot and begin nest building” (Knight, 1908) .
Nesting.—On August 1, 1907, at Clarkes Harbor, Nova Scotia, I found the first and only nest of the myrtle warbler that I have ever seen ”

“ A few species are summer residents, and one, at least, of this tropical family, the myrtle warbler, winters at the north. The habits of the family are not identical in every representative; some are more deliberate and less nervous than others; a few, like the Canadian and Wilson's warblers, are expert flycatchers, taking their food on the wing, but not usually returning to the same perch, like true flycatchers; and a few of the warblers, as, for example, the black-and-white, the pine, and the worm-eating species, have the nuthatches' habit of creeping around the bark of trees. ”

“ No warbler species migrated through the area in such consistently large numbers as did the Myrtle Warbler, and none had a more prolonged spring or fall migration. The first spring transients, mostly brilliant colored males, were generally seen between April 12 and 20. Thereafter the number of individuals increased rapidly, and from May 1 to May 5 between 100 and 200 birds, mostly males, could generally be daily noted. ”

“ The Myrtle Warbler is a member of a colorful family of American birds most of which are smaller than sparrows, have thin pointed bills, are more active than vireos. They are often referred to as the butterflies of the bird world. ”

“ In other years the bird rivaled the Myrtle Warbler in numbers, and as many as 1,000 individuals could be seen in a day and several thousands during a migration. * * * Throughout the southward migration the species did not confine itself to the upper sections of the taller trees as in spring, but was found in almost equal numbers in smaller trees and brushy thickets, in bushes and saplings along fence rows, and in weedy fields. ”

“ The general opinion seems to be that two broods are often, perhaps usually, raised in a season. The young birds are the first to leave their mountain resorts, probably driven out by their parents, and are the first to appear in the lowlands.
Plumages.—The plumages and molts of Audubon’s warbler are similar in sequence to those of the myrtle warbler; in juvenal and first fall plumages the two species are almost indistinguishable, though there is always more white in the tail feathers of the western bird, in which the white spot usually reaches the fourth feather even in young birds. ”

“ One found on June 6, 1919, contained four slightly incubated eggs. It was placed close to the stem of a pine tree, near the top, about 50 feet up. My field experiences tend to support the theory that these birds normally raise two broods a year.” He found one nest built in an apple tree in an orchard, of which he says: “Of the large number of nests of this species I have examined, this is the only one not built in a conifer.”
There are two Nova Scotia nests of the myrtle warbler in the Thayer collection in Cambridge, both taken by H. F. Tufts. ”

“ Few writers have accorded the song of the myrtle warbler much praise, but Bradford Torrey (1885) pays it this tribute: “For music to be heard constantly, right under one’s window, it could scarcely be improved: sweet, brief, and remarkably unobstrusive, without sharpness or emphasis; a trill not altogether unlike the pine-creeping warbler’s, but less matter-of-fact and business-like. ”

“ Flocks of warblers, mostly this species, flitted rapidly through the poplar woods, and there was a constant stream of myrtle warblers making long flights overhead. The last one, a single bird, was seen September 19.
As the breeding ranges of Hoover’s warbler and Audubon’s warbler approach each other in British Columbia and may even overlap it would not be strange if hybrids between these two closely related species should occasionally turn up. Joseph Mailliard (1937) calls attention to a number of such hybrids between both forms of coronata [260] and auduboni. ”

“ Then, too, the myrtle warbler is only a migrant in Colorado, passing farther north to breed. Audubon's, it must be said, has extremely rich habiliments, his upper parts being bluish-ash, streaked with black, his belly and under tail-coverts white, and his breast in high feather, black, prettily skirted with gray or invaded with white from below; but his yellow spots, set like gleaming gold in various parts of his plumage, constitute his most marked embellishment, being found on the crown, rump, throat, and each side of the chest. ”

“ After a hard freeze it is not an uncommon occurrence to see certain individuals that appear so benumbed as to be almost unable to fly, and not a few dead birds have been been found under trees along the streets.”
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From much farther south, in Central America, Dr. Alexander F. Skutch (MS.) writes:
“Audubon’s warbler is a moderately abundant winter resident in the higher mountains of Guatemala, yet like the closely related myrtle warbler, appears to be less regular in its time of arrival and departure and less uniformly distributed, than the majority of the more common winter visitants. ”

“ And A. D. Henderson mentions in his notes from Belvedere, Alberta, a nest that held five eggs of the myrtle warbler and one egg of the Nevada cowbird, and another nestful consisting of four eggs of the warbler and two of the cowbird. Probably very few young of the warbler are likely to survive in nests with young cowbirds, which means that this parasite must seriously interfere with the normal increase in the warbler population. ”

“ He is a lover of the plains, the foothills, and the lower ranges of the mountains. In this respect he differs from some other little birds, which seek a summer home in the higher regions. On the southern slope of Pike's Peak, a little below the timber-line, I found a dainty little bird which was a stranger to me. It was Audubon's warbler. At first sight I decided that he must be the myrtle warbler, but was compelled to change my conclusion when I got a glimpse of his throat, which was golden yellow, whereas the throat of Dendroica coronata is pure white. ”

“ On lightly marked eggs the drab or gray spots are the most prominent. The measurements of 50 eggs average 17.5 by 13.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 20.3 by 13.2, 17.9 by 14.8, 14.8 by 12.9, and 16.0 by 12.4 millimeters (Harris) .
Young.—The incubation period for the myrtle warbler is from 12 to 13 days and the young remain in the nest normally from 12 to 14 days. Incubating the eggs and brooding the young is apparently done entirely by the female, but both parents are active in feeding the young and in cleaning the nest. ”

“ Myrtle warblers are tiny mites that liven up the trees and shrubs in the spring migration. Traveling in small flocks, they seem to be constantly in motion, flitting from branch to branch searching for small insects and their eggs. Like flycatchers, they snap up larger bugs on the wing. To a quiet observer, they seem trusting birds, often singing at close range. ”

“ Several seasons may pass before we hear its sharp chip, which stands out clearly from the gentle voice of the late-lingering myrtle warblers, and see it flitting all alone among the twigs, or on the ground—a lonely, dark, obscure little bird, darker and more deliberate than the kinglets. ”

“ Their plumage is of the neatest and most exquisite; few, even among warblers, surpass them in that regard: black and white (reminding one of the black-and-white creeper, which they resemble also in their feeding habits) , with a splendid yellow gorget. Myrtle warblers (yellow-rumps) were still here (the peninsula is alive with them in the winter) , and a ruby-crowned kinglet mingled its lovely voice with the simple trills of pine warblers, while out of a dense low treetop some invisible singer was pouring a stream of fine-spun melody. ”

“ Breeds in the forest-belt of Canada and Alaska, south to Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maine, 263 Vermont, Massachusetts, and the mountains of New York, winters from Kansas, New Jersey, southern New England to West Indies, Mexico, and Panama, and from central Oregon to southern California.
The Myrtle or Yellow-rumped Warbler is found in North America except in the western United States. It is so abundant and so distinctly marked as to be better known than many warblers. ”

“ Willamette Valley, Nicasio, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, Haywards, Murphys, Stockton, Marysville and Summit. He also says "in fall and winter it (Myrtle Warbler) is not easily distinguished from Audubon's Warbler and being much less numerous than the latter, is likely to be overlooked in California." [5] In the middle west I find this warbler recorded from Boerne, South-western Texas, in spring; [6] Colorado, 9000 feet in spring; [7] South-eastern Dakota in spring and summer migration, [8] abundant migrant in western Manitoba. ”

“ For example, the young black-poll, bay-breasted, and chestnut-sided warblers bear little, if any, resemblance to their parents, whose diversified nuptial robes make our woodlands radiant in the spring. The young are quite tame in their soiled olive plumes, and look so much alike that the ornithologist is often at his wits’ end to tell them apart. Were it not for the yellow rumps of the magnolia and myrtle warblers when young, one would scarcely know them from a dozen other species as they pursue their journey southward in 91 the autumn. ”

“ Myrtle warblers are doubtless instrumental in spreading the seeds of poisonous species of Rhus, which is not to their credit; they also help to disseminate the red cedar, as they digest only the outer covering of these three and the bayberries. These warblers are often seen on the beaches and sand dunes eating the seeds of the beachgrass, or in open fields feeding on grass seed and doubtless various weed seeds. They frequent the fresh holes bored by sapsuckers to drink the flowing sap and eat the insects that are attracted to it. ”

“ But if we look sharply into every group of myrtle warblers, we are quite likely to discover some of their dainty, fragile cousins that gladly seek the escort of birds so fearless as they. By the last of May all the warblers are gone from the neighborhood except the constant little summer yellowbird and redstart.
In autumn, when the myrtle warblers return after a busy enough summer passed in Canadian nurseries, they chiefly haunt those regions where juniper and bay-berries abound. ”

“ However, I have long ago learned that there is no accounting for tastes in the bird realm any more than in the human realm.
The hardiest of the Mniotiltidae tribe are the myrtle warblers, which dapple the whitened edges of winter, both autumn and spring, with their golden rumps and amber brooches. Evidently these birds are shyer of the rigorous Ohio winters than of the more mild-mannered Kansas weather. ”

“ Late Myrtle Warblers.—On account of illness I have been unable to watch the migration of birds except from the piazza of my cottage in South Portland. As late as May 22nd, a considerable flock of Myrtle Warblers frequented the small gray birch trees which abound here. There were from twenty-five to forty individuals, in all grades of plumage. The adult males are very brilliant in slaty blue, black and yellow. This date seems to me to be quite late for so many of these birds to be in this section of the state, as they rarely nest here. ”

“ During the winter months, the Audubon warblers are truly social, and are nearly always met in flocks, sometimes containing 25 or more individuals. They are versatile in their modes of finding food. Sometimes, from the tops of the tall cypress trees near the summit of the Sierra de Tecpán, they would launch themselves on long and skillfully executed sallies to snatch up insects on the wing. As they twisted about in the air, they would spread their tails to reveal the prettily contrasting areas of black and white. At other times they foraged on the ground, like the myrtle warblers ”

“ Warbler species are many, and there is always another to hope for. I turned to the pines, therefore, as a matter of course, and was soon deeply engaged with a charming bevy of northward-bound passengers,—myrtle-birds, palm warblers, black-throated blues (of both sexes) , a female Cape May warbler (the first of her sex that I had seen) magnolias, bay-breasts, and many black-polls. It makes a short story in the telling ”