Chestnut-sided Warbler
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| Chestnut-sided Warbler | ||||||||||||||
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| Missing image Dendroica-pensylvanica-003.jpg Photo: Warbler | ||||||||||||||
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| Dendroica pensylvanica (Linnaeus, 1766) |
The Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica , is a New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America in southern Canada, and into the Great Lakes region and the eastern USA south to Georgia.
It is migratory, wintering in Central America. This is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
The summer male Chestnut-sided Warbler is unmistakable. It has a dark-streaked gray back, white face, black eyestripe and greenish crown. The underparts are white, with chestnut flanks, and there are two white wing bars. The adult female is a washed-out version of the summer male, and in particular lacks the strong head pattern and has less chestnut on the flanks.
Non-breeding birds of both sexes have greenish heads, mainly unstreaked greenish upperparts and pale grey unstreaked breasts. The wing bars are always present. The lack of streaking helps to distinguish this species from Blackpoll Warbler outside the breeding season.
The song is a whistled pleased, pleased, pleased to meecha. The call is a harsh chip. The cup-shaped nest is placed in a low bush in young deciduous woodland or scrub. There are 3-5 eggs.
Chestnut-sided Warbler is insectivorous, but will take some berries in winter. It forages actively in shrubs and small tress, also catching some insects in midair.
This bird's numbers increased as second growth forest became more common in the east in the late 19th century; numbers have declined slightly since then. The species is frequently parasitized by cowbirds.
Reference
New World Warblers by Curson, Quinn and Beadle, ISBN 0-7136-3932-6