Worm-eating Warbler

IDENTIFICATION: A striped head distinguishes this brown warbler. Length: 11-13 cm.; weight: 12-14 g.

VOICE: A single chip note; on the breeding grounds the song is a short trill. Audio (M. Oberle).

HABITAT: Coastal scrub, moist forests and swamps.

HABITS: Feeds on caterpillars, other insects and spiders, often by probing hanging clusters of dead leaves in the forest understory. Nests in deciduous forests of North America, especially on steep slopes with a well-developed shrub layer. Both sexes build a nest on the ground in dense leaf litter. The female incubates the 4-6 eggs for 11-17 days and broods the chicks. Both sexes feed the chicks, which fledge 9-10 days after hatching. The parents divide the chicks and care for them for about three weeks after fledging. Arrives in the Caribbean in August or September and departs in April or early May.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: An uncommon winter resident. Forest fragmentation is believed to be a long-term threat to this species.

RANGE: Breeds in the eastern USA and winters in the Central America and Greater Antilles.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; PARULIDAE

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).

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.

Hanners, L. A. and S.R. Patton. 1998. Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorus). No. 367 in The birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

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.

Sorrie, B.A. 1975. Observations on the birds of Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 15:89-103.

Worm-eating Warbler, Spanish text

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