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
_Winter._--Professor Cooke (1904) observes that "the winter home of the
black-throated blue warbler is better defined than that of any other
common warbler, and allows a very exact determination of the square
miles of territory occupied by it at this season. Cuba, Haiti, and
Jamaica, with a combined area of 74,000 square miles, are doubtless
occupied during the winter by the great majority of the individuals of
the species. The remaining birds do not probably cover enough territory
to bring the total to 80,000 square miles. This is a small area compared
with that occupied during the breeding season." In his Birds of Cuba,
Dr. Thomas Barbour (1923) writes:
The Black-throated Blue Warbler is excessively common, early to arrive
and late to leave. It is one of the tamest and most confiding species,
and one to be found in all sorts of situations. Early pleasant days in
Cuba spent at Edwin Atkins' plantation, Soledad, near Cienfuegos,
brought a great surprise, for I found it not uncommon to have these
little Warblers enter my room through the great ever open windows and
flit from couch to chair. This happened often, notably at Guabairo, not
far from Soledad. So inquisitive and confiding are they, that one can
hardly recognize the rather retiring dweller in woodland solitude which
we know in the North.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Eastern North America, from southern Canada to northern South
America.
_Breeding range._--The black-throated blue warbler breeds =north= to
southwestern and central Ontario (Lac Seul, Kapuskasing, and Lake
Timiskaming); and southern Quebec (Blue Sea Lake, Quebec, Godbout, and
Mingan). =East= to southern Quebec (Mingan, Grand Grève, and the
Magdalen Islands); eastern Nova Scotia (Cape Breton Island and Halifax);
southern Maine (Ellsworth and Auburn); southeastern Massachusetts
(Taunton); Connecticut (Hadlyme); northeastern Pennsylvania (Lords
Valley and Pocono Mountain); and southward through the Alleghanies to
Northwestern South Carolina (Mountain Rest); northeastern Georgia (Rabun
Bald, Brasstown Bald, and Young Harris). =South= to northern Georgia
(Young Harris); southeastern Tennessee (Beersheba Springs); southeastern
Kentucky (Log Mountain and Black Mountain); northeastern Ohio (Wayne
Township and Pymatuning Bog); northern Michigan (Douglas Lake and
Wequetonsing); northern Wisconsin (Fish Creek, Mamie Lake, and
Perkinstown); and northern Minnesota (Kingsdale, Cass Lake, and White
Earth; possibly sometimes near Minneapolis). =West= to northern
Minnesota (White Earth) and western Ontario (Lac Seul). The species very
probably breeds rarely in Manitoba or Saskatchewan where there are as
yet only a few records and it is a recent arrival. At Emma Lake,
Saskatchewan, 40 miles north of Prince Albert, 5 were observed June 27
to July 2, 1939. The first record for the Province was a specimen
collected on October 21, 1936, at Percival, 100 miles east of Regina. It
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