Bay-breasted Warbler

Dendroica castaneaOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Codes: Common Name: BBWA Scientific Name: DENCAS ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178912

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Overview

Bay-breasted Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with dark-streaked gray upperparts and buff underparts with chestnut-brown patches on the chin, throat, breast and flanks. The head has a dark brown crown and black mask. Wings are black with two white bars. It is one of the largest warblers.

Range and Habitat

Bay-breasted Warbler: Breeds from northeastern British Columbia east to Maritime Provinces and south to the northern Great Lakes region and northern New England. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include open spruce forests and deciduous woodlands.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"tees teesi teesi teesi teesi teesi"

Interesting Facts

The Bay-breasted Warbler is closely related to the Blackpoll Warbler, and hybrids between the two species are known. They are also known to hybridize with Yellow-rumped and Blackburnian warblers.

In contrast to the more stable populations of other warblers, their numbers go up and down depending on outbreaks of the spruce budworm. They are abundant during infestations, but decline or even disappear from some areas a few years later.

Eighty-two percent of the global population of Bay-breasted Warbler nests in the boreal forest of North America.

A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" 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.

Bay-breasted Warbler

● Song: "tees teesi teesi teesi teesi teesi"

● Foraging & Feeding: Bay-breasted Warbler: Eats caterpillars, beetles, flies, moths, mayflies, ants, lacewings, and canker worms. Generally gleans prey from mid-level, inner part of conifers, particularly on lichen-covered limbs with little foliage, but readily forages at other heights within the tree and in broad-leaved foliage.

● Breeding & nesting: Bay-breasted Warbler: Four to six brown or purple marked, white, green or blue eggs are laid in a loosely built, hair-lined nest made of twigs, grass, and needles set in a conifer as much as 50 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Bay-breasted Warbler: Chestnut-sided Warbler has yellow crown and white throat. In winter, Blackpoll Warbler has yellow legs, white undertail coverts, and more streaks on breast. Pine Warbler lacks black streaks on the back and has yellow on throat and breast.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight on rapidly beating wings.

Bay-breasted Warbler Breeding Adult Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Bay-breasted Warbler: Breeds from northeastern British Columbia east to Maritime Provinces and south to the northern Great Lakes region and northern New England. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include open spruce forests and deciduous woodlands.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationAbundant

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

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

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Chin

The area of the face just below the bill.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

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