General

MacGillivray's Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with olive-green upperparts and yellow underparts. White eye-ring is broken and slate gray hood extends to upper breast where it darkens to black. Female is similar but paler. Winter adult has paler hood and less distinct eye-ring.

Range and Habitat

MacGillivray's Warbler: Breeds from Alaska and the Yukon south to California and central New Mexico. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include coniferous forest edges, burns, brushy cuts, or second-growth alder thickets and streamside growth.

Breeding and Nesting

MacGillivray's Warbler: Three to six brown marked, white to creamy white eggs are laid in a grassy cup nest built close to the ground in a bush or tall weeds. Eggs are incubated for 11 days by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

MacGillivray's Warbler: Eats mostly insects; forages close to the ground in dense thickets.

Readily Eats

Sugar Water, Fruit, Nut Pieces

Vocalization

MacGillivray's Warbler: Song is a rolling "swee-eet, swee-eet, swee-eet, peachy, peachy, peachy" that ascends four notes and then drops for the last two.

Similar Species

MacGillivray's Warbler: Mourning Warbler lacks broken eye-ring. Females and juveniles of the two species are difficult to tell apart and are best separated by range. Connecticut Warbler is larger and has complete eye-rings.