Hermit Warbler

Dendroica occidentalis

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

A denizen of tall western coniferous forests, the Hermit Warbler is restricted to California, Oregon, and Washington. Because it lives in the tops of some of the tallest trees on the planet, it is more easily heard than seen.

Cool Facts

• The Hermit Warbler hybridizes with the Townsend's Warbler where their ranges overlap in Oregon and Washington. The hybrid zones are rather narrow and appear to be slowly moving, with the more aggressive Townsend's Warbler displacing the Hermit Warbler.

• Hermit Warbler females have been found to prefer to mate with Townsend's Warbler-type males, but no evidence was found of Townsend Warbler females mating with Hermit Warbler males.

Description

• Size: 14 cm (6 in)
• Wingspan: 20 cm (8 in)
• Weight: 9-13 g (0.32-0.46 ounces)

• Small songbird.
• Yellow face.
• Gray or olive back.
• Two bold white wingbars.
• Whitish underparts.

• Yellow eyering.
• Black on chin or all of throat.
• White spots in outer tail feathers.
• Male has all-yellow head and black bib.

Sex Differences

Male with bright yellow head and black bib. Female duller, with dusky on top of head and in face, and only limited black on throat.

Male

Head almost entirely yellow. Nape blackish, extending variably up on top of head. Chin, throat, and upper chest black. Underparts white. Upperparts gray with black streaks. Wings gray with two large white wingbars.

Female

Similar to male, but duller. Olive green on nape and throat instead of black. Throat may be yellow or have black area. Flanks white or light gray. Dusky face mask, but yellow eyering.

Immature

Immature male similar to adult female, but has black streaks down the middle of the feathers in the upper wingbar. Immature female without black on throat, has streaks on wingbar feathers.

Similar Species

• Adult male distinctive. Female and immatures resemble other closely related species.
• Black-throated Green Warbler has more olive back and less yellow in face, with dark in the face as line through eye, streaked sides, and some yellow at the vent under the tail.
• Golden-cheeked Warbler has distinct dark line through eye, dark from nape to forehead, and dusky streaking down sides.
• Olive Warbler resembles dull immature female Hermit Warblers, but has a more yellowish wash on underparts, a dark ear patch, and a white patch at the base of the primaries.
• Townsend's Warbler has streaks on sides, dark line through eye, dark crown and forehead, and yellow on the breast.
• Hybrid Townsend's X hermit can have all intermediate plumages.

Sound

Song several high notes followed by lower abrupt ones, or a rapid series of buzzy notes followed by rising and falling whistled notes. Variable. Call a sharp chip.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in Cascade, Sierra Nevada, and Coastal ranges from Washington southward to central California.

Winter Range

Winters in mountains of Mexico and Central America.

Habitat

Tall coniferous forests, especially of Douglas-fir.

Food

Insects and spiders.

Behavior

Foraging

Gleans insects of middle and outer portion of tree branches. Often hovers.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup of fine twigs, rootlets, dry moss, bark, pine needles, and spider silk. Lined with fine plant fibers and hair. Placed on top of conifer branches, well concealed from above.

Egg Description

Creamy white with fine dark speckles around large end.

Clutch Size

4-5 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with tufts of down.

Conservation Status

Populations stable. Because of its specialized habitat and its small range, it is considered vulnerable. Townsend's Warbler may be displacing it in parts of the range.

Other Names

Paruline à tête jaune (French)
Chipe cabeza amarilla (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Pearson, S. F. 1997. Hermit Warbler (Dendroica occidentalis). In The Birds of North America, No. 303 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
2. Pearson, S. F. 2000. Behavioral asymmetries in a moving hybrid zone. Behavioral Ecology 11: 84-92.
3. Rohwer, S. and C. Wood. 1998. Three hybrid zones between Hermit and Townsend's warblers in Washington and Oregon. Auk 115: 284-310.