Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Photo: Frode Jacobsen
Cerulean Warbler
Setophaga cerulea
| Conservation status | Possibly threatened or endangered. Surveys show strongly declining numbers in recent years. Nesting efforts may fail because of increasing cowbird parasitism in smaller patches of forest. May also be losing wintering habitat in tropics. |
|---|---|
| Family | Wood Warblers |
| Habitat | Deciduous forests, especially in river valleys. Breeds in mature hardwoods either in uplands or along streams. Prefers elm, soft maple, oak, birch, hickory, beech, basswood, linden, sycamore, or black ash. Nests only in tall forest with clear understory. In winter in tropics, found mostly in forest and woodland borders in foothills and lower slopes. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages mostly high in trees, moving rapidly from limb to limb, searching among foliage and twigs for insects. Also flies out to catch flying insects in mid-air. In winter in the tropics, scattered individuals forage with mixed flocks, ranging from low to high in the trees.
Eggs
3-5, usually 4. Gray or creamy off-white, with spots of brown. Incubation by female only, probably 12-13 days. Apparently does not often host cowbird eggs where it can nest in unbroken mature forest, but may be parasitized more frequently in forest fragments. Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Age at which the young leave the nest is not well known.
Young
Both parents feed the nestlings. Age at which the young leave the nest is not well known.
Diet
Insects. The diet is not well known; undoubtedly feeds mostly or entirely on insects, like most warblers. Has been observed feeding on caterpillars.
Nesting
Males arrive on breeding grounds near the middle of May. Nesting behavior has been little studied, owing to the difficulty of observing the nests. Nest: Placed on horizontal branch of hardwood, far from trunk and usually high, 15-90' up in tree. Favors oak, maple, basswood, elm, hickory, sycamore, beech, or tulip trees. Nest is a small, shallow open cup (probably built by female), made of bark strips, grasses, weeds, spider silk, and lichen; lined with moss and hair.
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- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
Songs and Calls
Series of short buzzy notes, followed by a higher-pitched buzz.How climate change could affect this bird's range
In the broadest and most detailed study of its kind, Audubon scientists have used hundreds of thousands of citizen-science observations and sophisticated climate models to predict how birds in the U.S. and Canada will react to climate change.
Read more: climate.audubon.org
Each map is a visual guide to where a particular bird species may find the climate conditions it needs to survive in the future. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”
The colors indicate the season in which the bird may find suitable conditions— blue for winter, yellow for summer (breeding), and green for where they overlap (indicating their presence year-round).
The darker the shaded area, the more likely it is the bird species will find suitable climate conditions to survive there.
The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future.
The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080.
You can play or pause the animation with the orange button in the lower left, or select an individual frame to study by clicking on its year.
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