Chestnut-sided Warbler

Dendroica pensylvanicaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Chestnut-sided Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with black-streaked upperparts, white underparts, and chestnut-brown flanks. Cap is bright yellow and moustache stripe is black. Female has less chestnut-brown on flanks. Winter adult and juvenile have lime-green upperparts, conspicuous yellow eye-ring, dark gray wings with two yellow bars, and gray underparts.

Range and Habitat

Chestnut-sided Warbler: Breeds from south-central Canada east to Nova Scotia, south to east-central U.S., and in the Appalachian Mountains. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include young, open, second-growth woodlands and scrub.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"please-please-pleased to meetcha"

Interesting Facts

The Chestnut-sided Warbler sings two song types: one is accented at the end, the other is not. The first is used before the arrival of the females and in the early nesting cycle. The second is used while raising young.
They are very rare vagrants to western Europe.
With the clearing of primeval forests and the subsequent growth of shrubby habitats, it is one of the most abundant breeding warblers in second growth deciduous woodlands.
A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler: Medium warbler with black-streaked upperparts, white underparts, and chestnut-brown flanks. The cap is bright yellow and moustache stripe is black. Often cocks its tail high above its back as it feeds. The only North American warbler with pure white underparts in all seasons.

● Song: "please-please-pleased to meetcha"

● Foraging & Feeding: Chestnut-sided Warbler: Feeds mostly on insects and some fruits. Forages alone, searching undersides of leaves, hopping from branch to branch with tail cocked.

● Breeding & nesting: Chestnut-sided Warbler: Three to five brown and purple blotched, white to pale green eggs are laid in a grass-and-bark nest lined with hair and rootlets, and built a few feet above the ground in a small tree or bush. Incubation ranges from 11 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Chestnut-sided Warbler: Bay-breasted Warbler has brown crown and dark throat. Golden-winged Warbler resembles immature, but has a dark throat and cheek patch.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Chestnut-sided Warbler: Breeds from south-central Canada east to Nova Scotia, south to east-central U.S., and in the Appalachian Mountains. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include young, open, second-growth woodlands and scrub.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common to common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.4 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America