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
Plants seem to burst into life during the early weeks in May. * * * The
flowers of the scrub oaks tinge the hillsides with a greenish-yellow
bloom; the green of bursting leaves and grasses soon blends with the
nodding blossoms of the pasque-flower; the beautiful pink plume sways on
the hillside, and yellow blossoms of the Oregon grape thrust forth among
the holly-like leaves, making one think of flowering Christmas wreaths.
It is then that the Virginia's Warblers are at the height of their
activity. Their colors are the grays and yellows of the new vegetation.
The males perch among scrub-oak branches and yellow pines, where they
are usually concealed, and do their utmost to outsing their towhee
neighbors.
In Nevada, Ridgway (1877) first observed this warbler "among the cedar
and piñon groves on the eastern slope of the Ruby Mountains. * * * On
the Wasatch and Uintah Mountains it was more abundant, being
particularly plentiful among the scrub-oaks on the foothills near Salt
Lake City. They lived entirely among the bushes, which there were so
dense that the birds were difficult to obtain, even when shot."
In the Charleston Mountains, Nev., according to A. J. van Rossem (1936),
"the distribution appeared to be limited to the so-called Upper Sonoran
associations of mahogany and Gambel oaks, and therefore the species is
considered characteristic of that zone, although the extremes of
altitude at which it was found were 6,300 and 9,000 feet. Because of the
relative scarcity of oaks, by far the greater number were found in
mahogany which here grows as low, dense forest, instead of in the more
familiar shrub form in which it is usually known."
In the Great Basin region, Dr. Jean M. Linsdale (1938) found Virginia's
warblers in a variety of situations, such as "in sage on rocky,
piñon-covered slope 100 yards from a stream; in sage on top of ridge; at
tip of mountain mahogany tree; in plum thicket; singing and foraging
through upper foliage of tall birches close to creek; in cottonwoods and
piñons close to creeks; singing in dead shrub 10 feet high at base of
rock slide; in aspen; in thickets of sage, elder, _Ephedra_, and
_Symphoricarpos_; in willow; on ground among rocks at crest of ridge."
The altitudes ranged from 6,500 to 8,000 feet, with the largest number
between 7,000 and 7,500 feet.
In southern Arizona, this warbler, according to Mr. Swarth (1904)--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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