Golden-cheeked Warbler

Dendroica chrysoparia

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family PARULIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The rare and endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler nests only in the juniper-oak woodlands of central Texas.

Cool Facts

• The Golden-cheeked Warbler is the only bird species whose population nests entirely in the state of Texas.
• Although the Golden-cheeked Warbler nests in Texas and winters in Mexico and northern Central America, wayward individuals have turned up in Florida, the Virgin Islands, and off the coast of California.

Description

• Size: 12-13 cm (5-5 in)
• Wingspan: 20 cm (8 in)
• Weight: 7-15 g (0.25-0.53 ounces)

• Small songbird.
• Black throat, extending as stripes down sides of chest.
• Yellow face.
• Black line through eyes.
• Crown and back black.
• Two white wingbars.
• Belly white.

• Back may be olive streaked with black.
• White spots in outer tail feathers.
• Bill black.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs dark brown.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female generally duller, with olive-green upperparts spotted with black, chin and upper throat yellowish, and yellow mixed with black in throat.

Immature

Similar to adult female.

Similar Species

• Black-throated Green Warbler similar, especially the female, but lacks black on back and black line through eyes, and has a yellow line across the vent under the tail.
• Hermit Warbler has a gray back and yellow crown and face.
• Townsend's Warbler has darker ear patches (black on male, dark olive on female) and largely yellow underparts.

Sound

Song buzzy and slow "ter-wih-zeee-e-e-e, chy" or "bzzzz, layzee, dayzee."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in central Texas, chiefly on Edwards Plateau.

Winter Range

Winters in highlands of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Habitat

Breeds in oak-cedar association. Found in migration in a variety of open woodland, scrub and thicket habitats. In winter known only from montane pine-oak association.

Food

Insects and spiders.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages by gleaning from foliage and branches, sallying, and hovering at ends of branches; less frequently by hawking and hanging to glean from undersides of leaves.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup woven of strips of juniper bark and insect silk, lined with fine grass, hair, or down. Placed in small tree.

Egg Description

White with dark speckles concentrated around the large end.

Clutch Size

Usually 3-4 eggs. Range: 3-5.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless.

Conservation Status

Endangered species. Restricted breeding habitat shrinking and becoming more fragmented. Old-growth and mature second-growth juniper-oak woodlands used for breeding are climax communities in breeding range, and may take decades to recover from disturbance. Some areas may never regenerate after disturbance. Wintering areas are being cut down for timber.

Other Names

Paruline à dos noir (French)
Chipe mejilla dorada, Chipe caridorado (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Ladd, C., and L. Gass. 1999. Golden-cheeked Warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia). In The Birds of North America, No. 420 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.