The prairie warbler (''Setophaga discolor'') is a small

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

of the

New World warbler The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds that make up the family Parulidae and are restricted to the New World. They are not closely related to Old World warblers or Australian warblers. Most ...

family.

Description

These birds have yellow underparts with dark streaks on the flanks, and olive overparts with rusty streaks on the back; they have a yellow line above the eye, a dark line through it, and a yellow spot below it. These birds have black legs, long tails, two pale wing bars, and thin pointed bills. Coloring is duller in female and immatures.

Measurements

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.

Distribution and habitat

These birds are permanent residents in the southern parts of their range. Other birds migrate to north-eastern Mexico and islands in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

Their breeding habitats are brushy areas and forest edges in eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. 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.

Feeding

Prairie warblers forage actively on tree branches, and sometimes fly around with the purpose of catching insects, which are the main food source of these birds.

Behaviour

These birds wag their tails frequently.

Status

The numbers of these birds are declining due to habitat loss; this species also suffers from

nest parasitism Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...

by the

brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...

Gallery

Image:Warbler_prairie_02.JPG, In

Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east ...

. Image:Prairie-Warbler-02-07-2003.jpg Image:Warbler_prairie_03.JPG, At Castellow Hammock, Miami, FL.

References

External links

Prairie warbler - ''Dendroica discolor''
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter

- Cornell Lab of Ornithology

from

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

, St. Kitts a
bird-stamps.org
* *
Prairie warbler bird sound
at Florida Museum of Natural History * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q27075937

prairie warbler The prairie warbler (''Setophaga discolor'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Description These birds have yellow underparts with dark streaks on the flanks, and olive overparts with rusty streaks on the back; they have a ye ...

Native birds of the Plains-Midwest (United States) Native birds of the Eastern United States Birds of the Dominican Republic