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Wilson's Warbler

Status Uncommon in summer, fairly common transient. Breeds. Generally appears in spring around mid-May (average 17 May, earliest 12 May). A bird on Sable Island on 18 April 1971 and another in Lunenburg County on 26 April 1974 were considerably ahead of normal dates. It is found throughout the province in summer but not in large numbers. Fall movements are seen from early to mid-September, but it is routine in small numbers much later (average 24 November, latest 12 December). A bird in Dartmouth during the Christmas Bird Count of 20 December 1969 and another at South Bar, Cape Breton County, on 4 January 1982 (H. Hopkins et al.) were noteworthy.

Description Length: 11.5-13 cm. Adult male: Glossy black cap or crown: rest of upperparts, including wings and tail, olive-green; no wing bars and no white marks on tail; underparts rich yellow. Adult female: Similar but lacking the black cap, though sometimes showing a slight trace of it.

Breeding Nest: Composed wholly of grass, the lining being of very fine quality; placed on the ground, usually embedded and well concealed in the side of a mossy hummock in open, boggy barrens with scattered growths of stunted trees and scrubby bushes. Eggs: 4; white, lightly marked with fine specks of cinnamon-brown in a delicate wreath around the larger end. Although a nest has not yet been recorded here, evidence that this warbler does breed here is provided by Allen (1916), who mentions having seen parents with young at Deerfield, Yarmouth County, on 10 and 13 August 1908.

Range Breeds from northern Alaska, Mackenzie Delta, central Quebec, and Newfoundland, south to Nova Scotia, Vermont, southern Manitoba and, in the mountains, to California. Winters from northern Mexico to Panama.

Remarks Look for this warbler in birch, alder and other deciduous thickets growing in the open sunny glades that occur in wet and swampy low-lying areas. In such places the chattering song of the male may be heard from late May to early July; once heard it is not soon forgotten.

The male's most distinctive mark is his neat, black skullcap. Females and immatures lack this mark and bear resemblance to Hooded and Yellow Warblers, but these two species have tail spots not found on Wilson's Warblers.

Like its many relatives, it feeds largely on insects. Its manner of feeding, however, is like that of a flycatcher, for it commonly sallies forth to take insects in the air—a characteristic shared by other members of its genus of "flycatching warblers."