Nashville warbler

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Oreothlypis ruficapilla

Type: bird

Status:

Species Guide

Nashville warbler

Oreothlypis ruficapilla

Species Type: bird

Conservation Status:

IDENTIFICATION

The Nashville warbler is a small migratory songbird about 5 inches in length. It has a gray head, olive-green back, yellow throat, and no wing bars. It also has a white ring around each eye. The female is slightly paler than the male.

Distribution & Habitat

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

This species has a breeding range in eastern North America as well as western North America, and those two ranges do not overlap. The breeding range of the Nashville warbler in the eastern portion of North America extends from southeastern Canada in the north to the upper Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states in the south, extending southwest along the Appalachian Mountains into West Virginia. In the western portion of North America, their breeding range covers portions of the Rocky, Cascade, and Sierra Nevada Mountains from British Columbia in the north to California in the south, as far east as northwestern Montana. They winter in coastal California as well as central and southern Mexico.

Breeding habitat includes forested wetlands, bogs, fens, open woodland, old fields, forest edges, and areas recently cut or burned.

Diet

DIET

Nashville warblers are primarily insectivorous, but will also feed on berries and seeds. They typically forage low in trees or within thickets along forest edges.

Life Cycle

LIFE CYCLE

The breeding season for the Nashville warbler in New Jersey is between mid-May and mid-August. The nest is built by the female and is on or near the ground, usually near the base of a small tree or shrub or within a clump of grass. 4 to 5 eggs are laid and incubation (mostly by the female) lasts about 11-12 days. The young are tended to by both parents and leave the nest at about 11 days after hatching.

Scientific Classification

  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Passeriformes
  • Family: Parulidae
  • Genus: Oreothlypis
  • Species: O. ruficapilla