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Canada Warbler

Status Fairly common in summer. Breeds. This is one of the later warblers to appear in spring (average 19 May, earliest 12 May). It is widespread in summer in suitable habitats. Fall migration starts in mid-August, is well underway in early September and birds generally do not tarry (average last sighting 23 September, latest 18 October).

Description Length: 12.5-14.5 cm. Adult male: Entire upperparts slaty gray, with crown showing faint black speckles; slender line in front of eye, and eye ring, yellow; underparts yellow, with a broken band of black spots across upper breast in the form of a necklace; undertail coverts white; no wing bars. Adult female: Similar but colours paler, particularly the breast markings.

Breeding Nest: On or near the ground, composed of decayed leaves, grass, lichens and moss, with a lining of black rootlets. It is invariably located in wet, swampy places in woods of mixed growth, particularly where large trees have long since been uprooted by gales, leaving a tangled mass of decaying debris.

Eggs: 4-5; white, speckled with cinnamon and brown of various shades chiefly around the larger end. A nest containing two fresh eggs, with two broken ones below it, was found at Caledonia, Queens County, by Harold F. Tufts on 29 June 1909 neatly embedded among the roots of a large upturned spruce in swampy woods. On 9 July 1956 a pair at Black River, Kings County, was disturbed while feeding young in the nest. The bills of both parents were laden with small caterpillars and the two flitted about anxiously. So dense was the tangle of fallen trees in this piece of wet, boggy woods that, in the time at my disposal, I was unable to find the nest, though its location was narrowed down to within a few square metres; another attempt two days later proved fruitless, for no Canada Warblers were seen there, the young presumably having flown in the interim.

Range Breeds from northern Alberta, central Manitoba and southern Quebec, south to the northeastern states (to Tennessee in the mountains) and central Minnesota. Winters in South America.

Remarks To locate a pair of these birds in summer, one should look for the nesting habitats I have described and seek out the wettest and most tangled spots. If one is familiar with the male's rich song, the task of locating the nest is greatly simplified, for during the entire nesting season he will be found close to his doorstep.

The Canada Warbler is not readily confused with any other warbler. Note the lack of any white marks on its wings or tail, its clear lemon-yellow breast with a black necklace across it (absent in the young and indistinct in the female), its yellow eye ring and its bluish gray upperparts.