General

Hermit Warbler: Small warbler with gray upperparts, white underparts, and black-streaked flanks. Head is yellow with black throat and nape. Wings are gray with two white bars. Female has black-mottled throat and nape, and gray back. Juvenile is similar to female but has white throat and gray nape.

Range and Habitat

Hermit Warbler: This species breeds along the Pacific Coast from Washington to northern California and along the Sierra Nevada. They spend winters along coastal southern California and south of the U.S.-Mexico border in central and southern Mexico. Its preferred habitats include mature coniferous forests.

Breeding and Nesting

Hermit Warbler: Three to five white eggs, blotched with red, brown and lavender, are laid in a neat shallow cup nest made of rootlets, bark, and pine needles, and saddled on a conifer branch, usually 20 to 40 feet above the ground. Eggs are incubated for approximately 12 days by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Hermit Warbler: Eats mostly insects. Spends most of the time foraging high in trees; male tends to forage higher than female.

Vocalization

Hermit Warbler: Song is a series of high notes.

Similar Species

Hermit Warbler: Townsend's Warbler has dark ear patches, yellow face, and black streaks on the breast.