Prairie Warbler

IDENTIFICATION: A bright yellow warbler with an olive back, black streaking on the sides, and a distinctive black and yellow facial pattern. Length: 11 cm.; weight: 6.4-8.8 g.

VOICE: A sharp "tchick" call note is given frequently in winter. In March, just before the migration north, many individuals sing briefly at dawn or dusk. The song is a high-pitched series of buzzy notes, rising in pitch. Audio (M. Oberle).

HABITAT: Edges of moist or dry forest, abandoned fields with scattered shrubs, mangroves, coffee plantations, and gardens.

HABITS: This species bobs its tail frequently, as it forages in trees and shrubs. It gleans insects off leaves, and in winter also feeds on fruit and nectar. Insects documented in the diet in Puerto Rico include beetles, caterpillars, moths, wasps, ants, and bugs. The Prairie Warbler is often seen alone, but sometimes joins mixed-species flocks. On the breeding grounds in North America, the female builds a nest in the lower 3-4 meters of a shrub or tree. She incubates the four eggs for 11-14 days. Both parents feed the chicks, which fledge 9-11 days after hatching. The parents feed the young for the first 5-6 weeks after hatching. Although most pairs are monogamous, some males mate with more than one female.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: A common winter resident. On the breeding grounds in the eastern USA, Prairie Warbler populations probably increased, as agricultural fields were abandoned in the early and mid-20^th Century. But as these same areas matured into forest too dense for this species, the Prairie Warbler declined---by over 50% in the last three decades. In other words, this species may have been unusually common in the mid-20^th Century, but is now declining. Cowbird nest parasitism is also a problem. The Prairie Warbler declined in one long- term study area in Guánica, Puerto Rico, over the last three decades, but some wintering warbler species may have abandoned the maturing forest at that particular site in favor of more desirable second-growth forest in abandoned pastures.

RANGE: Breeds from southern Ontario through the eastern USA. Winters from Florida south through the Caribbean, rarely wintering in Central America. A regular location to find this species is at Guánica State Forest.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; PARULIDAE

Photo: A. Sßnchez Mu±oz


Photo: G. Beaton

References

Arendt, W.J. 1992. Status of North American migrant landbirds in the Caribbean region: a summary. Pp. 143-171 in Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds (J.M. Hagan III and D.W. Johnston, eds.) Smithsonian Instit. Press, Washington, D.C.

Bent, A.C. 1953. Life histories of North American wood warblers. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 203. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1963).

Cruz, A. 1980. Avian feeding assemblages in Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 15:21-27.

Curson, J., D. Quinn, and D. Beadle. 1994. Warblers of the Americas: an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin, NY.

Dunn, J. and K. Garrett. 1997. A field guide to warblers of North America. Houghton Mifflin, NY.

Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/ Fireside, NY.

Faaborg, J. 1982. Avian population fluctuations during drought conditions in Puerto Rico. Wilson Bull. 94(1):20-30.

Faaborg, J. and W.J. Arendt. 1992. Long-term declines of winter resident warblers in a Puerto Rican dry forest: which species are in trouble? Pp. 57-63 in Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds (J.M. Hagan III and D.W. Johnston, eds.) Smithsonian Instit. Press, Washington, D.C.

Latta, S. and J. Faaborg. 2001. Winter site fidelity of Prairie Warblers in the Dominican Republic. Condor. 103:455-468.

Nolan, V. Jr., E. D. Ketterson, and C. A. Buerkle. 1999. Prairie Warbler (Dendroica discolor). in The birds of North America, No. 455 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Peterjohn, B.G., J.R. Sauer, and W.A. Link. 1996. The 1994 and 1995 summary of the North American breeding bird survey. Bird Populations 3:48-66.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Staicer, C.A. 1992. Social behavior of the Northern Parula, Cape May Warbler, and Prairie Warbler wintering in second growth forest in southwestern Puerto Rico. Pp. 308-320 in Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds (J.M. Hagan III and D.W. Johnston, eds.) Smithsonian Instit. Press, Washington, D.C.

Wunderle, J.M., Jr., and R.B. Waide. 1993. Distribution of overwintering nearctic migrants in the Bahamas and Greater Antilles. Condor 95:904-933.

Prairie Warbler, Spanish text

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