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Mourning Warbler

Status Uncommon in summer. Breeds. This is among the latest warblers to appear in spring (average 26 May, earliest 9 May), and it continues to be found outside of breeding habitat well into June. It is most frequent in the northern parts of the mainland and on Cape Breton Island. Migration peaks have been noted from late August to mid-September, and few remain later (average 23 September, latest 18 October).

Description Length: 12.5-14.5 cm. Adult male: Head slate-gray; back, wings and tail olive-green; throat and upper breast gray, the feathers margined with black; lower breast to undertail coverts yellow. Adult female: Similar but head and breast paler, without black feather margins.

Breeding Nest: It nests on or very close to the ground. Eggs: Usually 4; white, well speckled with cinnamon-brown. The nest of this bird has not yet been recorded for Nova Scotia, but proof that it breeds here is provided by W. Earl Godfrey, who saw an adult carrying food near Baddeck on 13 July and observed three young just out of the nest near St. Peters, Richmond County, on 29 July 1954. It is probably breeding wherever males are heard singing regularly during June and early July.

Range Breeds from northern Alberta, central Manitoba, central Quebec, and Newfoundland, south to Nova Scotia, southern Michigan, northeastern North Dakota and central Alberta. Winters in Central America and northern South America.

Remarks It was not named for its sad call, like the Mourning Dove, but for the coloration of the male's head and breast, which suggests a dark veil of mourning. The song is not sad but is a bright and spirited twitter, a rapid reiteration of pécha-pécha-pécha.

In summer the bird shows a preference for expanses of dense deciduous undergrowth and is seldom found elsewhere.

The species with which it is most likely to be confused is the Connecticut Warbler, but that bird has a conspicuous white eye ring (although autumn female and immature Mourning Warblers have broken eye rings that may be misleading), is larger and has longer undertail coverts which give it a short-tailed appearance. Spring Mourning Warbler males may also be distinguished by the black-scaled appearance of breast and throat; these parts are grayer and much lighter in the Connecticut Warbler.