Kentucky Warbler

Oporornis formosusOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Codes: Common Name: KEWA Scientific Name: OPOFOR ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178937

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Overview

Kentucky Warbler: Medium, ground-dwelling warbler with bright olive-green upperparts and yellow underparts. Head has black mask and sideburns and thick yellow eyebrows. Bill is black, legs and feet are pink. Secretive, heard rather than seen. It is named for the state where it was first discovered.

Range and Habitat

Kentucky Warbler: Breeds from Iowa and Indiana east to New Jersey, and south to the southeastern U.S. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include low, moist, rich woodlands with luxuriant undergrowth.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

Rolling melody of 5-8 notes with 2 syllables that sound like churry-churry-churry-churry-churry.

Interesting Facts

A group of Kentucky Warblers are collectively known as "a Derby of warblers."

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Kentucky Warbler

● Song: Rolling melody of 5-8 notes with 2 syllables that sound like churry-churry-churry-churry-churry.

● Foraging & Feeding: Kentucky Warbler: Diet includes grubs, plant lice, spiders, caterpillars, and other insect larvae. Sometimes adds a bit of Mexican fruit to its diet during winter. Forages on the ground by rummaging through leaf litter, probing, and tossing with its bill, and scratching with its feet; also feeds in shrubs, vines, and lower parts of trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Kentucky Warbler: Three to six white eggs with brown flecks and splotches are laid in a nest made of dead leaves, lined with grass, hair, and rootlets, and built on or near the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Kentucky Warbler: Common Yellowthroat lacks yellow spectacles and has a white belly.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Kentucky Warbler: Breeds from Iowa and Indiana east to New Jersey, and south to the southeastern U.S. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include low, moist, rich woodlands with luxuriant undergrowth.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America