Prairie warbler
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
The prairie warbler (Setophaga discolor) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.
Taxonomy
The prairie warbler belongs to the genus Setophaga. The species was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in a work published in 1807 documenting North American birds, where he called the bird Sylvia discolor, although the genus designation Sylvia was not later retained.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was also previously assigned to the genus DendroicaTemplate:When before that genus was merged into Setophaga.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The vernacular name "prairie warbler" is attributed to the Scottish-American naturalist Alexander Wilson who saw the species in 1810 in prairie country in southwestern Kentucky.<ref name=":3" /> This name is arguably misleading, since the bird generally prefers shrubbery and small trees rather than true open prairie habitats.<ref name=":0" />
There are two recognized subspecies, S. d. discolor and S. d. paludicola. The first, S. d. discolor, is the migratory form which breeds throughout the full range and spends winters in Florida and the West Indies. The second, S. d. paludicola, is the sedentary form which permanently inhabits the coasts of Florida.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> American zoologist Arthur H. Howell is credited with describing S. d. paludicola in a paper published in 1930. H. H. Bailey had also previously described the subspecies sometime from 1926 to 1930 (date uncertain), but he did not publish it publicly.<ref name=":3" />
Description
These birds have yellow underparts with dark streaks on the flanks. In males, the back is olive green with chestnut or rufuos streaks.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> A black stripe runs through the eye, and another black stripe runs from the beak down the throat.<ref name=":0" /> This semicircular stripe gives them a distinctive "tired" look.<ref name=":2" /> They have two faint wing bars.<ref name=":0" /> Their tails have large white areas, and they have dark legs. Coloring is duller in females and immature birds, and streaks are fainter or absent.<ref name="BOC" /> The subspecies S. d. paludicola is also duller overall.<ref name=":2" />
Measurements
The prairie warbler typically measures from Template:Convert in length. The typical adult wingspan measures from Template:Convert for males or Template:Convert for females.<ref name=BOC>Template:Cite book</ref> The bird weighs about Template:Convert.<ref name=Sibley>Template:Cite book</ref>
The tail of an adult male measures from Template:Convert, the exposed culmen measures from Template:Convert, and the tarsus measures from Template:Convert.<ref name="BOC" />
Vocalizations
Prairie warblers have two categories of songs, referred to as Type A and Type B. Type A songs are typically a series of ascending buzzy notes. The B songs are an ascending series of whistled notes that often contain some buzzy notes. Compared to A songs, the B songs are lower in pitch, have fewer, longer notes. The total song length is longer as well in Type B songs. The use of these two song categories is associated with certain contexts. A songs are sung throughout the day when males first arrive on their breeding grounds. Once males are paired they begin to sing B songs during the dawn chorus and then will intersperse A songs in their singing during the rest of the day. During this later period of singing A songs are typically used near females, near the nest, and in the center of their territories. In contrast B songs are used when interacting or fighting with other males and near the borders of their territories.
Part of their call note repertoire is a tsip call. During dawn, chorus B songs are interspersed with rapid loud "check" calls.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
Distribution
The full breeding range of the subspecies S. d. discolor includes the much of the eastern United States, with the highest population density in the southeast. Isolated populations have been observed as far west as Kansas, Iowa, and Michigan.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> Their reach extends as far north as Ontario and New Brunswick in Canada.<ref name="BOC" />
The winter range of S. d. discolor includes the southern portion of Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the eastern coast of Mexico and further along the coast of Central America as far south as Honduras. The subspecies S. d. paludicola inhabits the coasts of Florida year-round.<ref name=":1" />
Behaviour and ecology
Breeding
Their breeding habitats are brushy areas and forest edges in eastern North America. The prairie warbler's nests are open cups, which are usually placed in a low area of a tree or shrub. Incubation period is 12 to 13 days.<ref name=BOC/> Female warblers usually lay three to five eggs. The eggs are white with speckles which have been described as "chestnut," "auburn," or "russet."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Prairie warblers are victims of nest parasitism by the brown-headed cowbird, which causes them to raise young cowbirds instead of their own chicks or sometimes to abandon affected nests all together.<ref name=":0" />
Feeding
Prairie warblers forage for insects. The majority of their foraging behavior comprises gleaning from twigs, leaves, and infrequently trunks and branches. Less common tactics include fly-catching, hovering, and chasing. Rarely, they have been observed pecking the ground, feeding on nectar, and web-picking.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Behaviour
Prairie warblers wag, or pump, their tails frequently, which is a behavior they have in common with Palm warblers and Kirtland's warblers.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
Status
Although the species is not considered to be in danger of extinction,<ref name="iucn" /> its population size likely peaked in the 1940s or 1950s and has been declining since then. Across the Appalachians and Southeastern United States, this decline generally ranges from 50 to 70 percent.<ref name=":0" />
Gallery
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At Castellow Hammock, Miami, FL.
References
External links
Template:Commons category Template:Wikispecies
- Prairie warbler - Dendroica discolor - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Prairie warbler species account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Template:Usurped from Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, St. Kitts at Template:Usurped
- Template:InternetBirdCollection
- Template:VIREO
- Prairie warbler bird sound at Florida Museum of Natural History
- Template:BirdLife
- Template:IUCN Map
- Template:Xeno-canto species