Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler , male, breeding plumage

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Bay-breasted Warbler, female

Bay-breasted Warbler, male, non-breeding plumage

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A large warbler of the northern spruce forests, the Bay-breasted Warbler benefits from spruce budworm outbreaks when the caterpillars provide abundant food. Spraying to control the destructive outbreaks may have reduced populations of this warbler.

Description

• Small songbird; large warbler.
• Breeding male with black face and chestnut head.
• Two broad white wingbars.
• Rufous on flanks.

• Size: 14 cm (6 in)
• Wingspan: 20-22 cm (8-9 in)
• Weight: 10-17 g (0.35-0.6 ounces)

Sex Differences

Adult male with chestnut head and flanks, female dull olive green.

Sound

Song very high-pitched "seetzy, seetzy, seetzy."

Conservation Status

Populations decreasing over last 20 years, possibly as result of spraying for spruce budworms. Loss of wintering habitat may be a problem.

Other Names

Paruline à poitrine baie, Fauvette à poitrine baie (French)
Reinita pecho bayo, Reinita castaña (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Bay-breasted Warbler is closely related to the Blackpoll Warbler, and hybrids between the two species are known. The Bay-breasted Warbler is known to hybridize also with Yellow-rumped and Blackburnian warblers.

• Adult Bay-breasted Warblers appear to follow a more western migratory route south in the fall than first-year birds. More adults migrate west of the Appalachian Mountains than east of them, while first-year birds are frequent along the coast.

• In contrast to the more stable populations of other warblers, Bay-breasted Warbler numbers go up and down depending on outbreaks of the spruce budworm. It is abundant during infestations, but declines or even disappears from some areas a few years later.

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Dunn, J. L., and Garrett, K. L. 1997. A Field Guide to Warblers of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
2. Williams, J. M. 1996. Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea). In The Birds of North America, No. 206 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.