Golden-winged Warbler, above Blue-winged Warbler, below ©George West, Birchside Studios

The Golden-winged Warbler Atlas Project is helping biologists and land managers discover prime places to pursue the conservation of Golden-winged Warblers. Data from 1999-2001 (see map) will help identify safe havens where Golden-winged Warblers are relatively free from competition with Blue-winged Warblers and can sustain "pure" populations without hybridizing with blue-wings.

Historically, the Golden-winged Warbler is thought to have persisted in the southern and western Appalachians, where it was adapted to beaver wetlands and high-elevation disturbances. Within the last half century, the golden-wing's range moved north into northern New York, Minnesota, Manitoba, southern Ontario, and southwestern Quebec. Clear-cuts and abandoned farmland assisted this range expansion and initial increase in abundance.

Today golden-wing numbers are declining in the southern and eastern portions of the range. These declines are associated with the succession of shrubland into secondary forest and the northward movement of the Blue-winged Warbler into the golden-wing range, allowing hybridization and competition to occur between these species.

Our latest map illustrates golden-wings' presence in two areas that have become almost disjunct. A band persists in the Appalachians from southern New York through Pennsylvania, West Virginia to Georgia, and Tennessee. Another population of golden-wings is expanding north through the Great Lakes region, primarily above 44 degrees north latitude. These birds are advancing in front of a wave of Blue-winged Warblers, with hybrids recorded as far north as the Queenston Field Station in Ontario. Whereas the dynamic range shift of Golden-winged Warblers in the North makes long-term conservation planning at specific sites very difficult, we are hopeful that the Golden-winged Warbler Atlas Project will identify Appalachian sites where long-term persistence of golden-wings is likely.

Data on the distribution of both Blue-winged and Golden-winged warblers are critical as we try to understand the dynamics between the two species. In the Appalachian population, Ron Canterbury from Concord College has documented a worrisome invasion of Blue-winged Warblers in West Virginia. Of 231 sites, all except 2 or 3 have experienced a significant blue-wing invasion in the past 6 to 7 years. Blue-wings outnumber golden-wings in the lowlands, although the reverse is true in the uplands. Golden-wings are very localized in the northern and western part of the state, but large populations persist in southern West Virginia.

Golden-winged Warbler Atlas sites surveyed in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

On the southern edge of the golden-wings' historical range in West Virginia and Tennessee, Golden-winged Warblers have colonized reclaimed strip mines. Melinda Welton of The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee believes that this habitat stays in an early successional state for a longer period of time than most golden-wing habitats and should be fairly easy to maintain. Continued monitoring of these populations in artificial habitats will help inform management decisions.

In our next and potentially final field season for the Golden-winged Warbler Atlas Project, we hope to discover additional strongholds for the golden-wing throughout its range.