Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Adult male. Photo: Tom Benson/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND-2.0)
Grace's Warbler
Setophaga graciae
| Conservation status | Numbers in our area probably stable. Could be vulnerable to loss of habitat in mountains of Mexico and Central America. |
|---|---|
| Family | Wood Warblers |
| Habitat | Pine-oak forests of mountains. During the breeding season, found mainly in the tops of pines, sometimes also in spruce, fir, and oak thickets in higher mountains of the Southwest. In winter in Mexico, inhabits pine-oak woods in the mountains. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
During the breeding season, often forages by flying out from the treetops to catch insects in mid-air. Also searches among branches and twigs and hovers briefly while picking insects from foliage, spending most of its time in the tops of the taller pine trees.
Eggs
3-4. Creamy white, spotted with browns around larger end. Details and timing of incubation are not well known. Young: Nestlings are fed by female, probably by male as well. Age at which young leave the nest is not well known. Normally 2 broods per year.
Young
Nestlings are fed by female, probably by male as well. Age at which young leave the nest is not well known. Normally 2 broods per year.
Diet
Presumably mostly insects. Details of diet are not well known; undoubtedly eats mostly insects, like other warblers.
Nesting
Details of breeding behavior are not well known. In the Southwest, arrives on breeding grounds mostly in early April. Males defend nesting territories by singing. Nest: Placed on a horizontal branch or in the top crown of tree, usually pine, sometimes fir, 20-60' above the ground. Nest (built by female) is a tightly constructed open cup made of plant fibers, oak catkins, plant down, and webs of spiders and caterpillars; lined with animal hair and feathers. Nest is often well hidden among a cluster of pine needles.
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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
Song is a short musical trill, faster toward the end: che che che che che-che-che-che. Call is a soft chip.How Climate Change Will Reshape the Range of the Grace's Warbler
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.
Climate threats facing the Grace's Warbler
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.
