Tennessee Warbler
Oreothlypis peregrina
Summary 2
The Tennessee Warbler (Oreothlypis peregrina) is a New World warbler that breeds in eastern North America and winters in southern Central America and northern South America.
Oreothlypis peregrina 3
A small (4 ¾ inches) wood warbler, the male Tennessee Warbler is most easily identified by its dull green wings and body, pale gray breast, and conspicuous white eye-stripes. The female is similar to the male, but is darker yellow below and on the head, with less visible eye-stripes. Both sexes are paler than the related Orange-crowned Warbler (Oreothlypis celata) and greener than the similar-looking but unrelated Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus). The Tennessee Warbler breeds across much of central and southern Canada, with small numbers breeding just south of the United States border in New England and the upper Midwest. This species is a long-distance migrant, wintering in southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. On migration, Tennessee Warblers may be found elsewhere in the eastern U.S.; ironically, this is the only time when this species might actually be encountered in Tennessee. Tennessee Warblers breed in a variety of northern forest habitat types, primarily those containing willow, alder, spruce, and fir trees. In winter, this species occurs in semi-open portions of tropical forests. Tennessee Warblers eat small invertebrates, primarily insects (including caterpillars) and spiders, but may also eat fruits and nectar in winter when those foods are available. Due to this species’ preference for heavily vegetated habitats, Tennessee Warblers are much more easily heard than seen. Birdwatchers may listen for this species’ “ticka ticka ticka ticka, swit swit, chew-chew-chew-chew-chew” song, or may attempt to observe it foraging for insects deep in the undergrowth. Tennessee Warblers are primarily active during the day, but, like many migratory songbirds, this species migrates at night.
Conservation status 4
Tennessee warblers are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. There exist other regulations to preserve the health of this species. For instance, due to aerial spraying of chemical insecticides to control spruce budworm outbreaks in North America, thirty-eight percent of sampled Tennessee warblers had serious brain damage leading to higher fatality rates. Now, regulations such as Ultra Ultra Low Volume (UULV) aerial spraying has diminished the impact of pesticides on this species.
US Migratory Bird Act: protected
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Habitat 5
In its breeding range V. peregrina lives in deciduous and coniferous forests, and alder and willow thickets. In all habitats it is linked to shrubs, primarily speckled alder. For instance, in northern Maine it occurs in spruce-fir forests, alder bogs, open white cedar-tamarack-black ash bogs and among coniferous saplings. Migration paths occur through all types of woodlands. For example, along the northern Gulf Coast during spring migration many individuals occupy scrub-shrub, pine forest, and bushes along dunes. Some fall migrants were reported in dry and wet forest, coastal areas, and urban areas. In the winter range Tennessee warblers can be found in open second-growth woodland, wooded shorelines, forest edge, and gallery forests. Tennessee warblers are the most abundant warbler in the coffee plantations of Central America.
Range elevation: 0 to 3000 m.
Range depth: 0 (low) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural ; riparian
Sources and Credits
- (c) Jerry Oldenettel, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/7457894@N04/2308452558
- Adapted by Amanda Carrillo-Perez from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreothlypis_peregrina
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34818228
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31429475
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31429465
