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
_Field marks._--The Tennessee warbler has no prominent wing-bars and no
very conspicuous field marks. It might be mistaken for one of the small
vireos, but its bill is much more slender and acute. The male has a gray
crown, a light line over the eye, and a dusky line through it; the upper
parts are bright olive-green and the under parts grayish white. The
female has a greener crown and more yellowish under parts. For more
details, see the descriptions of plumages.
_Fall._--The fall migration starts early in August, but is quite
prolonged, many birds lingering in the northern States until early in
October and in the southern States all through that month. During some
seasons and at certain places the Tennessee warbler is exceedingly
abundant, sometimes far outnumbering any other species, but it is very
variable in its abundance.
Mr. Trautman (1940) says that at Buckeye Lake, Ohio, "during some years
not more than 20 individuals could be recorded in a day in the southward
migration, nor more than a 100 in the season. In other years the bird
rivaled the Myrtle Warbler in numbers, and as many as 1,000 individuals
could be seen in a day and several thousands during a migration. * * *
Throughout the southward migration the species did not confine itself to
the upper sections of the taller trees as in spring, but was found in
almost equal numbers in smaller trees and brushy thickets, in bushes and
saplings along fence rows, and in weedy fields."
Professor Cooke (1904) says of the fall migration route: "The principal
line of migration is from the Mississippi Valley across the Gulf of
Mexico to Mexico and Central America. The eastern part of this route
probably extends from the southern end of the Alleghenies across
northwestern Florida to the coast of Yucatan and Honduras." A. H. Howell
(1932), however, gives several records for central and southern Florida,
and says: "In autumn, Weston reports a large migration on October 26 and
27, 1925, when 31 birds were killed at the lighthouse near Pensacola on
the two nights, and large numbers seen on the morning of October 26 in
vacant lots in the city."
Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say of the migration in El Salvador:
During the fall migration of 1925, Tennessee warblers arrived in the
vicinity of Divisadero on October 13. No advance guard, that is,
individuals arriving ahead of the main flights, was observed in this
case. On the above-mentioned date they were suddenly found to be present
in numbers, and from then on were common in every lowland or foothill
locality visited. In point of relative abundance this was by far the
most common warbler (resident or migratory) throughout the coastal plain
and in the foothills, but it was greatly outnumbered by _Dendroica
virens_ above 3,000 feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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