Tennessee Warbler

Vermivora peregrina

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 dainty warbler of the Canadian boreal forest, the Tennessee Warbler specializes in eating the spruce budworm. Consequently its population goes up and down with fluctuations in the populations of the budworm.

Cool Facts

• The Tennessee Warbler breeds no closer to the state of Tennessee than northern Michigan, over 1,000 km (620 mi) away, and it winters over 2,000 km (1,440 mi) away in southern Mexico and southward. It was given its name in 1832 by Alexander Wilson who first encountered the bird in Tennessee during its migration.
• Males of most other warblers in the genus Vermivora have small, concealed patches of red or orange feathers on the tops of their heads. The Tennessee Warbler usually does not, but a very few males have a few reddish feathers there.

• The Tennessee Warbler is a common nectar "thief" on its wintering grounds in tropical forests. Instead of probing a flower from the front to get the nectar, and spreading pollen on its face in the process, the warbler pierces the flower tube at its base and gets the reward without performing any pollination.

Description

• Size: 10-13 cm (4-5 in)
• Wingspan: 20 cm (8 in)
• Weight: 8-13 g (0.28-0.46 ounces)

• Small songbird.
• Drably colored with few distinct field marks.
• Back green.
• Underparts whitish.
• Crown and nape gray.
• Thin white line over eyes.

• Thin blackish eyestripe.
• Underparts may be tinged yellow.
• Tail greenish and without spots.
• May show faint wingbar.
• Bill gray with darker top edge.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs dark gray, soles of feet yellowish.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female duller, with less gray on head and more yellow on chest.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Forehead, crown and nape pale bluish gray. Sides of face and neck pale gray. White eyestripe above a dark line through eyes. Back, wings, and rump bright olive-green. Dull whitish from chin to undertail. May have slight yellowish wash across breast or on flanks. Wing feathers and tail dark gray.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Plumage duller, with head and nape gray-green, similar to rest of upperparts. Variable yellowish wash on throat and breast. Belly and undertail whitish.

Female

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Forehead, crown, and nape olive-gray. Sides of face and eyestripe grayish white tinged with yellow. Dusky line through eyes. Back, wings, and rump olive-green. Dull whitish from chin to undertail, with variable yellowish wash across breast and flanks. Wing feathers and tail dark gray.
Nonbreeding(Basic) Plumage: Plumage duller, with more yellow on underparts, especially belly and flanks.

Immature

Juvenile similar to nonbreeding female, but duller and darker green, with only indistinct pale eyeline and dusky eyestripe. Underparts pale yellow, darker on upper belly and flanks. Two faint wingbars on each wing.

Similar Species

• Orange-crowned Warbler can be very similar to juvenile or fall female, but is duller green on the back, has yellow undertail, faint blurred streaks on the sides of the breast, and a thin, split eyering.
• Vireos are slightly larger, more robustly built, have more distinct eyelines, duller green backs, thicker and less pointed bills, and are less active foragers.

Sound

Song a loud, spitting three- or two-part series of trills, with the middle series composed of two-note syllables and the third part faster, higher, and louder.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds across Canada and the very northern United States.

Winter Range

Winters from southern Mexico to northwestern South America.

Habitat

Breeds in boreal forest, in open areas containing grasses, dense shrubs, and young deciduous trees. Winters in open second growth forests and agricultural habitats, such as shade coffee plantations

Food

Invertebrates, especially moth caterpillars, fruit, and nectar.

Behavior

Foraging

Gleans insects from outer foliage of trees and shrubs. Pecks base of flowers to get nectar.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup of dead grass, weed stems, dried leaves, twigs, or bark strips, lined with fine grass, moss, rootlets, or hair. Placed on ground, often hidden in hummock of sphagnum moss or at base of small shrub or tree.

Egg Description

White, speckled with reddish brown.

Clutch Size

3-8 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless.

Conservation Status

No evidence of population declines. Populations fluctuate widely, depending on spruce budworm outbreaks.

Other Names

Paruline obscure, la fauvette obscure (French)
Chipe peregrino, Reinita verdilla (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Rimmer, C. C., and K. P. McFarland. 1998. Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina). In The Birds of North America, No. 350 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.