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Hermit Warbler

Dendroica occidentalisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Hermit Warbler Portrait
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General

Hermit Warbler: Small warbler with gray upperparts, white underparts, and black-streaked flanks. Head is yellow with black throat and nape. Wings are gray with two white bars. Female has black-mottled throat and nape, and gray back. Juvenile is similar to female but has white throat and gray nape.

Range and Habitat

Hermit Warbler: Breeds from Washington to northern California and Sierra Nevada. Spends winters south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include mature coniferous forests.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"seadle, seadle, seadle, zeet-zeet"

Interesting Facts

  • The Hermit Warbler was first described in 1837 by John Kirk Townsend, an American naturalist, ornithologist and collector.
  • They hybridize with the Townsend's Warbler where their ranges overlap in Oregon and Washington. The hybrid zones are rather narrow and appear to be slowly moving, with the more aggressive Townsend's Warbler displacing the Hermit Warbler.
  • It once occurred in the Olympic Peninsula and into British Columbia, areas now occupied only by the Townsend’s. Warbler.
  • A group of hermit warblers are collectively known as a "seclusion" of warblers.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Hermit Warbler
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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.
Family
Species Dendroica occidentalis
Length5 Inches
Wingspan7.75 Inches

Hermit Warbler

Hermit Warbler: Small warbler, gray upperparts, white underparts, black-streaked flanks. Head is yellow with black throat and nape. Wings are gray with two white bars. Bill, legs and feet are black. They spend most of their time in the tops of tall fir and pine trees, making them difficult to see.

● Song: "seadle, seadle, seadle, zeet-zeet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Hermit Warbler: Eats mostly insects. Spends most of the time foraging high in trees; male tends to forage higher than female.

● Breeding & nesting: Hermit Warbler: Three to five white eggs, blotched with red, brown and lavender, are laid in a neat shallow cup nest made of rootlets, bark, and pine needles, and saddled on a conifer branch, usually 20 to 40 feet above the ground. Eggs are incubated for approximately 12 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Hermit Warbler: Townsend's Warbler has dark ear patches, yellow face, and black streaks on the breast.

Flight Pattern

Swift short flight on rapidly beating wings.
Hermit Warbler Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Hermit Warbler: Breeds from Washington to northern California and Sierra Nevada. Spends winters south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include mature coniferous forests.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.3 Ounces