Wood warbler

“ During three days on that plantation, I met 23 kinds of winter visitants from the North; yet the myrtle warbler appeared to be the most abundant of them all: certainly, I saw far more of them than of any other migratory bird; yet this was in part because they foraged in more exposed places. Of all the warblers I found here, this was the only species that moved in flocks; for most of the wood warblers that winter in the Central American lowlands are strict individualists. ”

“ The Wood-warbler is much less frequent than either the Willow-warbler or Chiff-chaff, and on a close inspection may be distinguished by its superior size, by the pure white of its under tail-coverts, and by the bright yellow line above the eye. The nest is composed of grass, ferns, and moss, and lined with fine grass and hair; it is covered with a dome, an entrance being left sufficiently large to allow its contents to be seen, and is placed on the ground, in or near a wood, among thick herbage, or against the stump of a tree. ”

“ Strange birds these, in appearance like thrushes, in their haunts and in their teetering motion like sandpipers, but in reality belonging to the same family as the tree-loving wood warblers. A problem not yet solved by ornithologists is: what was the mode of life of 95 the ancestor of the many warblers? Did he cling to and creep along the bark, as the black-and-white warbler, or feed from the ground or the thicket as does the worm-eating? Did he snatch flies on the wing as the necklaced Canadian warbler, or glean from the brook’s edge as our water thrush? ”

“ Like most of the same sex of other Warblers, the female of this species is very shy, and seldom noticed except when an intruder disturbs the nest or when feeding the young after leaving it, but the male Golden-cheeked Warbler is by no means a shy bird. He keeps continually flying from tree to tree in search of insects, and on fine days uttering his song at short intervals from early dawn until after sundown, and before nest building begins shows little alarm upon being approached. ”

“ Is there some safety here from enemies worse than boys and cats and dogs? Or is it that these birds take this chance for human fellowship? If this last is the reason for their rejecting the deep tangles for limbs that overhang roads and tufts of grass in constantly traveled foot-paths, then they can be pardoned; otherwise they are foolish—fatally foolish.
The first black-and-white warbler's nest I ever found was at the base of a clump of bushes in a narrow wood-path not ten feet from a highway. There were acres of bushes beyond, thick and pathless, all theirs to choose from. ”

“ The Southern and Middle States are where it is most abundant. Here is a wood warbler that is not a bird of the woods — less so, in fact, than either the summer yellowbird (yellow warbler) or the palm warbler, that are eminently neighborly and fond of pasture lands and roadside thickets. But the prairie warblers are rather more retiring little sprites than their cousins, and it is not often we get a close enough view of them to note the brick-red spots on their backs, which are their distinguishing marks. They have a most unkind preference for briery bushes, that discourage human intimacy. ”

“ Among these early wandering birds the black-and-white warbler is a very conspicuous species, perhaps because it is one of our commoner birds or, more probably, because of its habit of feeding in plain sight on the trunks and low branches of dead or dying trees and shrubs instead of hiding, like other warblers, high up in the foliage. It may be that the warblers we see at some distance from their breeding grounds thus early in the season have already begun their migration toward the south: they often appear to be migrating. ”

“ When disturbed or alarmed they are at once alert; a sharp alarm note, something like that of a Yellow-throated Warbler (D. dominica) is uttered, but more forcible and clear cut in its delivery. This is accompanied with a few jerks of the tail, and the bird is off to a neighboring tree. They are found alike in the trees, low bushes, and shrubbery, sometimes on or quite near the ground, and seem to prefer the heavy and more thickly grown woods to trees or bushes more in the open. ”

“ Wherever there are birds at all, this bird is sure to be there. From the seacoast to the mountains, in city parks and gardens, in orchards and in chaparral, the Audubon’s warbler is equally at home. On any country walk scores are sure to be seen, starting up from the ground or out of the trees with wavering and erratic flight, showing in departure a flash of white-marked tail-feathers and a gleaming yellow rump spot, and uttering the incessant chip that, better than any marking, serves to identify the fleeting bird. ”

“ They are very silent, uttering now and then a ‘cheep,’ and always busy searching among the leaves and cones for insects. Among some fifty collected in the first week in August, 1896, there were only two or three adults. The young males have the most coloring, but they in no way approach adult plumage. These great flights of the hermit warbler are intermingled with other species, Hammond flycatcher, Calaveras and lutescent warblers, Cassin vireo, and sometimes Louisiana tanagers and red-brested nuthatches. ”

“ The female is merely more dull in coloration than the male, and the young even duller. The hybrids between this and the golden-winged warbler are more puzzling, but in a general way they can be recognized; a nearly typical blue-winged warbler with a black throat is probably a Lawrence’s warbler; and a golden-winged warbler without a black throat or cheek and with a variable amount of white and yellow on the under parts and in the wing-bars, is probably a Brewster’s warbler. But there is an immense amount of individual variation between the two species, due to frequent crossing. ”

“ Behavior.—Wayne’s warbler is essentially a high-ranging bird. It spends much of its time amid the topmost branches of cypress, magnolia, gum, and other swamp trees, rarely descending to even mid-sections [314] of this characteristic growth while feeding. Highly restless and exceedingly active in movements, it is constantly on the go and, as a consequence, is rather difficult to see and study satisfactorily, the oft-repeated song being the best indication of its whereabouts. As might be supposed, the female is even more elusive, and flits about like some swamp wraith, silent and mysterious. ”

“ A transient often displays a marked preference for certain types of trees, but it appears unusual for a single tree among many of the same kind to retain yearly so marked an attraction for a particular bird species.”
The migrating parula warbler is often seen in roadside trees and in shade trees in parks and gardens. It even visits our orchards, where one of the most charming sights of springtime is to see this gay-colored, tiny warbler flitting about in search of insects among the apple blossoms, a delightful bit of color contrast in a beautiful setting. ”

“ It has been seen foraging on the ground, as well as in the foliage, and flying up into the air to capture insects on the wing.
Behavior.—Virginia’s warbler is a shy, retiring species, spending most of its time not far above the ground in the thick underbrush, where it is not easily seen, as its colors match its surroundings. It is also very lively and active, almost constantly in motion, except when it mounts to the top of some dead bush or small tree to sit and sing. ”

“ The wood warblers are largely nocturnal migrants, whose long journeys in the dark of night over sea and lake and along the coast expose them to many perils, one being the lighthouses they strike with frequently fatal results. Their notes are seldom heard from the night sky during their spring migration, but on many a calm, quiet night in August and September, as they fly overhead, their sharp, sibilant, staccato notes punctuate the rhythmic beat of the tree-crickets singing in the shrubbery and stand out clearly among the soft, whistled calls of the migrating thrushes. ”

“ Its behavior in the defense of its young shows a solicitude for their welfare. Jensen (1923) says: “If a nest with young is discovered, both parent birds try every means possible to draw the attention of the intruder away from the nest. Often I have seen them drop with folded wings from the top of a tree and flutter among the leaves as if each had a broken wing.” And Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) write:
June 15, 1925, a female Audubon warbler was seen which showed concern whenever the observer went near a certain thicket of very small pines and willows. ”

“ Since that time Cape May Warblers have been not uncommon transients in certain years, and they have never been as rare as they formerly were. In migration they may be found in trees and shrubbery about dwellings and along village streets almost as commonly as in woods or in swampy thickets, where at this season they find many insects. Occasionally a few may be seen in blossoming orchards.
Courtship.—Information on the courtship behavior of the wood warblers is so scanty that it seems worthwhile to include two small items on this subject for the Cape May warbler. ”

“ It shows a striking resemblance to the yellow-throated warbler, but it is much smaller, has no black in the cheeks, and it has a yellow rather than a white mark below the eye. The adult male in spring is light bluish gray above, marked on the head and back with black spots, with a bright yellow throat, two white wing bars, and much white in the tail. Females, young birds, and males in the fall are similar but browner. ”

“ I am of the opinion that it must nest at a considerable height, for on several occasions I have seen the birds carrying material into trees at a height of over one hundred feet.”
Taylor and Shaw (1927) write: “On entering the great forest of the Pacific Northwest, with its solitude, the deep-shaded grandeur of its brown-barked pillars and its stillness, one can almost imagine himself in a different world. Incessantly repeated, apparently from the very crowns of the trees, comes the song of the Townsend warbler, denizen of upper foliage strata. ”

“ The male has never been seen to assist either at nest-building or incubation.
In the Yosemite region, where Grinnell and Storer (1924) found the black-throated gray warbler in fair numbers among the golden oaks on the north walls of the Valley, they found a nest “placed 5 feet 6 inches above ground in a mountain lilac (Ceanothus integerrimus) bush against a main stem.”
From southern California, James B. Dixon writes to me: “This bird breeds sparingly from 2,500 feet to the tops of our mountain ranges in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. ”

“ The beautiful Black and Yellow Warbler is a common summer resident of the higher parts of the Catskill and Adirondack regions, and breeds sparingly in local cool spots elsewhere in the State [New York] . * * * So far as known its food in our region consists entirely of insects and associated creatures, as spiders and daddy-long-legs. Almost all of its known items of insect food are sorts injurious to woodlands. It takes weevils, leaf beetles, [204] and click beetles, leaf hoppers, plant lice, and scale insects, sawfly larvae and ants, and caterpillars and moths. ”

“ Behavior.—Audubon’s warbler is a lively and active bird that seems to be always in a hurry, constantly moving in pursuit of its prey. Mrs. Bailey (1902) writes:
Its flight and all its movements seem to be regulated by gnats, its days one continuous hunt for dinner. When insects are scarce it will fly hesitatingly through the air looking this way and that, its yellow rump spot always in evidence, but when it comes to an invisible gauzy-winged throng it zigzags through, snapping them up as it goes ”

“ Field marks.—The golden-cheeked warbler might at first glance be mistaken for a black-throated green warbler, but the upper parts in the adult male are deep black from crown to tail, instead of olive-green, and the under parts, except for the black throat, are white and not tinged with yellow. ”

“ The males sing persistently and energetically from the time that they arrive on their territories, hoping to attract their mates, but they are not always successful, especially in regions where the species is rare or not very common, and their nest-building brings no occupant. Edward von S. Dingle writes to me that, at Summerton, S. C., a male prothonotary warbler built a nest in a low stub, but no female was ever seen. He sang frequently and remained in the vicinity for several weeks. ”

“ It frequents the belts of the yellow, sugar, and Jeffrey pines, and ranges up into the red fir zone. During the height of the nesting season one may see them flitting about among thickets of manzanita, wild cherry, huckleberry, oak and buck brush, almost always in song; and while the female is assiduously hunting among the dense cover of [117] bushes, the male is often singing in a pine or fir, far above mundane cares. * * * I have observed this Warbler at lower altitudes on the west slope among small black oaks, in company with Hermit Warblers. ”

“ 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. ”