Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Passeriformes; Wood warblers
_Enemies._--Like other ground-nesting birds, this warbler has the usual
four-footed enemies to contend with, but its nest is quite well hidden.
Perhaps its worst bird enemy is the cowbird, although Friedmann (1934)
listed it as an uncommon victim of this parasite and had only six
records of it, the nests containing from one to two eggs of the cowbird.
_Fall._--As soon as the molting season is over and the young birds
are freshly clad in their winter dress the migration begins in
Massachusetts. This takes place in August, and the last stragglers may
be seen passing through in early October.
In Ohio, according to Mr. Trautman (1940), the first migrants are seen
about the first of September, the peak of the migration coming during
the latter half of that month when from 10 to 100 could be found in a
day, and after the 10th of October only an occasional bird remains. He
writes: "As with many other transient warblers the southward migration
of the Nashville Warbler covered a greater period of time than did the
spring movement, which usually lasted less than 30 days, whereas the
fall movement generally extended more than 45 days. * * * In spring the
species frequented the upper half of large trees and was more numerous
in tall trees of woodlands than it was in smaller groups or rows of tall
trees. In fall the species tended to inhabit the middle section of large
trees, and it also resorted to the taller bushes and saplings,
especially the larger hawthorn trees."
The fall migration route is apparently a reversal of the spring route
southwestward into Mexico and Central America where it spends the
winter.
_Winter._--The Nashville warbler is evidently very common in winter in
certain parts of Mexico, for Dr. C. William Beebe (1905) says: "At
times there were twenty and thirty in sight at once near our camp in
the Colima lowlands." These may have been the western race.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Southern Canada to Guatemala.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account