Pine Warbler (Crum Woods Biodiversity Guide)

Pine Warbler

Setophaga pinus

Summary ⁴

The Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.

Setophaga pinus ⁵

A medium-sized (5-5 ½ inches) wood warbler, the male Pine Warbler is most easily identified by its olive-green back, yellow breast, and dark wings with conspicuous white wing bars. Female Pine Warblers are similar to males, but are somewhat duller. Many North American wood warblers are pale olive-green, but this species alone possesses this plumage in combination with white wing bars. The Pine Warbler breeds across much of the eastern United States and southern Canada, although its range is highly fragmented in much of the Midwest and interior northeast. In winter, northerly-breeding populations abandon their breeding grounds and spend the winter in the southeastern U.S. Populations breeding in the southeast are non-migratory, and isolated non-migratory populations also occur in the Bahamas and on the island of Hispaniola. Appropriately, Pine Warblers primarily breed in pine forests. Migratory populations move into similar habitats in winter as they utilized the summer before, and tropical populations are highly specific to pine barrens or mountain forests where isolated patches of suitable habitat occur. Pine Warblers primarily eat small invertebrates, including insects and spiders, although this species may eat some plant material, particularly fruits and berries, during the winter. In appropriate habitat, Pine Warblers may be observed foraging for food on pine needles and in bark crevices. Birdwatchers may also listen for this species’ song, a trilled “cheeeeeee.” Pine Warblers are primarily active during the day, but, like many songbirds, migratory populations migrate at night.

Habitat ⁶

Pine warblers can be found almost exclusively in pine forests except during migration, when they may be found in habitats with few or no conifers, in addition to pine forests. There appears to be a preference for open pine forests; however they have been found in dense conifer stands or in small pockets of pines in a predominately deciduous forest.

Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial

Terrestrial Biomes: taiga ; forest

Conservation status ⁷

Pine warblers are currently listed as a species of least concern. This species occupies a large range throughout most of the eastern United States, however its range is threatened by logging and development causing habitat loss and fragmentation. Future studies should focus on the impacts of this habitat loss and ensure that populations are large enough to persist.

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

Iucn red list assessment ⁸

Red List Category

Least Concern

Red List Criteria

Version

3.1

Year Assessed

2012

Assessor/s

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s

Butchart, S. & Symes, A.

Contributor/s

Justification

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

History

Least Concern (LC)
Least Concern (LC)
Least Concern (LC)
Lower Risk/least concern (LR/lc)
Lower Risk/least concern (LR/lc)
Lower Risk/least concern (LR/lc)

Sources and Credits

(c) Jerry Oldenettel, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/7457894@N04/3612905460
(c) Greg Lasley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Greg Lasley
(c) Laura Gooch, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4840682863_37ef583c6f.jpg
Adapted by Amanda Carrillo-Perez from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setophaga_pinus
(c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34818224
(c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31390468
(c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31390478
(c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34420028