Adult male. Photo: Tom Warren/Audubon Photography Awards
Setophaga ruticilla
| Conservation status | Still widespread and very common, but surveys suggest that numbers may be declining slightly. |
|---|---|
| Family | Wood Warblers |
| Habitat | Second-growth woods, river groves. Breeds in open deciduous and mixed woodland, preferring edges of forests or second growth. Attracted also to roadside trees, shrubby and tree-lined stream banks, and ponds. Will nest in second-growth maples, birch, and aspen following fire in coniferous forests. In the Northwest, prefers willow and alder thickets. In winter in the tropics, found in lowland woods. |
Forages very actively, often flying out to catch insects in mid-air or hovering to take them from foliage. Flycatches much more than most warblers, drooping its wings, fanning its tail, and leaping high in the air. Males feed higher and make more mid-air sallies than do females early in the nesting season. Does not cling to tips of branches while hanging upside down as do many warblers. Holds large caterpillars and moths in the bill and bangs them on perch before eating.
4, sometimes 2-5. Off-white, with brown or gray marks. Incubation by female only, 11-12 days. Often parasitized by cowbirds. Young: Fed by both parents. Leave the nest at 9 days old. The parents divide the brood into 2 parts, each parent attending only half the fledglings. Normally 1 brood per season.
Fed by both parents. Leave the nest at 9 days old. The parents divide the brood into 2 parts, each parent attending only half the fledglings. Normally 1 brood per season.
Mostly insects. Feeds on a wide variety of insects including beetles, caterpillars, moths, leafhoppers, aphids, midges, crane flies; also spiders anddaddy longlegs. Also eats some seeds and berries.
Males sometimes mate with more than one female and raise 2-3 broods simultaneously. Males perform a frequent boundary display flight toward rivals, with stiffened wingbeats and a glide back to the original perch in a semicircle. Male displays to female during courtship by fluffing plumage, raising crown feathers, spreading wings and tail, and bowing. Nest site picked by female, usually in fork of tree, 4-70' above the ground; rarely on the ground. Open cup nest (built by female) of plant fibers, grass, rootlets, decorated with lichen, birch bark, and feathers; lined with feathers. Sometimes will use old nests of other birds.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
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Three decades ago, scientists realized that protecting birds across their full annual cycle required working with everyone along the way.
After bouncing back from near extinction, the Kirtland's Warbler is helping scientists understand the outsize role of winter habitat for migratory birds.
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