Mourning Warbler

Oporornis philadelphia

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

Common within its range, the Mourning Warbler is a small songbird of second-growth forests of eastern and central North America. It typically reveals its presence by its distinctive song of rolling phrases, usually remaining hidden in the low, thick vegetation.

Cool Facts

• Both male and female Mourning Warblers pretend to have broken wings to distract predators close to their nest.

• The adult female Mourning Warbler eats the eggshells after the young hatch.

Description

• Size: 10-15 cm (4-6 in)
• Wingspan: 18 cm (7 in)
• Weight: 11-13 g (0.39-0.46 ounces)

• Small songbird.
• Complete gray hood with broken black patch at base of chest.
• Yellow belly and vent.
• Plain olive back and wings.

• May have small white eye-arcs.
• Upper mandible dark, lower mandible lighter.
• Legs pinkish.
• Eyes dark.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but male has a distinctive broken black patch on the breast that female lacks. Female has a lighter-gray hood than male.

Immature

Similar to adult female, but with mixed gray and green plumage in crown, throat usually yellow with gray sides, and a broken white eyering.

Similar Species

• MacGillivray's Warbler very similar, but adult has very bold white eye-arcs and male has black in front of eyes. Some individual Mourning and MacGillivray's Warblers can be so similar that song is the best distinguishing feature. Immatures of these species are extremely difficult to distinguish as well; measurements of wing and tail length of birds in the hand is the most reliable way to tell the difference.
• Connecticut Warbler has complete white eyering and a paler gray hood.
• Young Common Yellowthroat similar to young Mourning Warbler, but yellowthroat has white belly.

Sound

Song a rhythmic series of rolling two-syllable phrases, usually lower at the end: "chirry, chirry, chirry, chorry, chorry." Also at least two distinct chip notes, one loud and harsh and the other higher.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in the forests of the northeastern and central United States and Canada, from northern Alberta to Newfoundland, and from eastern North Dakota to Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Winter Range

Winters primarily along the Caribbean slope of Central America, from Nicaragua through Panama, and northwestern South America.

Habitat

Disturbed second-growth forested areas, with moderately closed canopy and thick understory. In winter, wet lowlands with thick vegetation.

Food

Poorly documented. Insects, insect larvae, and spiders during the breeding season. Insects and fruiting bodies on Cecropia tree leaves in winter.

Behavior

Foraging

Gleans insects from branches of shrubs, picking prey with bill. Removes wings and legs of prey before consuming it.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup of grass, leaves, and bark, lined with roots, fine grasses, and hair. Usually placed on or near ground.

Egg Description

White, speckled with reddish brown and black spots.

Clutch Size

2-5 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with tufts of dark gray down and red mouth.

Conservation Status

Populations slightly increasing in New England, stable or slightly decreasing in Canada. Given their preference for disturbed forests, Mourning Warbler populations may have benefited from various human activities that are detrimental to other birds, such as mining, forest clear-cutting, and road-building.

Other Names

Paruline triste, Fauvette triste (French)
Verderón llorón (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Pitocchelli, J. 1993. Mourning Warbler (Oporornis philadelphia). In The Birds of North America, No. 72 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.