Here's Why So Many More Birds Migrate Through the Eastern United States
In this month's Ask Kenn!, bird expert Kenn Kaufman provides a detailed look at how geography shapes the routes of migratory birds.
Adult male. Photo: John Benson/Flickr CC (BY 2.0)
Cardellina canadensis
Conservation status | Favoring shady forest undergrowth in summer and winter, this warbler could be vulnerable to loss of habitat with clearing of forest. |
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Family | Wood Warblers |
Habitat | Forest undergrowth, shady thickets. Breeds in mature mixed hardwoods of extensive forests and streamside thickets. Prefers to nest in moist habitat: in luxuriant undergrowth, near swamps, on stream banks, in rhododendron thickets, in deep, rocky ravines and in moist deciduous second-growth. Winters in a variety of habitats in South America, from forest undergrowth to scrub. |
Very active in foraging, does more flycatching than most warblers. Typically flushes insects from foliage while foraging on twigs and leaves, then frequently darts out catch escaping insects on the wing. Also searches on the ground among fallen leaves. In winter in the tropics, forages in mixed flocks with other birds, usually 3-30' above ground in denser foliage.
4, sometimes 3-5. Creamy white with brown spots. Incubation is probably by female, possibly with help from male; length of the incubation period is not well known. Young: Both parents care for nestlings. Age at which young leave the nest is not well known.
Both parents care for nestlings. Age at which young leave the nest is not well known.
Largely insects. Feeds on many kinds of insects, including beetles, mosquitoes, flies, moths, and smooth caterpillars such as cankerworms; also spiders.
Males arrive on breeding grounds during the first two weeks of May. Sometimes pairs may arrive together, as migrants have been seen traveling in pairs in Central America. Nest: Placed on or within 6" of the ground, on sphagnum hummocks, in hollows in streambanks, on moss-covered logs, or in cavities among the upturned roots of fallen trees. Nest (built by female) is bulky open cup, loosely constructed of dead leaves or leaf skeletons, bark strips, grasses, weeds, ferns; lined with fern roots, horsehair, and plant fibers.
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.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
In this month's Ask Kenn!, bird expert Kenn Kaufman provides a detailed look at how geography shapes the routes of migratory birds.
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