Mourning Warbler

Oporornis philadelphiaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Mourning Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with olive-green back, wings, and tail, and gray hood. Underparts are yellow; upper breast is black. Female is much duller, has faint eye-ring, and lacks black breast. Juvenile has much duller hood.

Range and Habitat

Mourning Warbler: Breeds from Alberta to Newfoundland and south to North Dakota and northern New England, and in mountains to Virginia. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include dense thickets of blackberries and briars in forest clearings; also wet woodlands with thick undergrowth.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"teedle-teedle", "turtle-turtle"

Interesting Facts

The Mourning Warbler gets its species name, philadelphia, from the city where Alexander Wilson discovered the bird in 1810. It is actually less common in Philadelphia than in many other places.

Both parents pretend to have broken wings to distract predators close to their nest.

The adult female eats the eggshells after the young hatch.

A group of mourning warblers are collectively known as a "wake" 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.

Mourning Warbler

Mourning Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with an olive-green back, wings, tail, and gray hood. The underparts are yellow and the upper breast is black. It's named for the way its dark breast and hood resemble a person in mourning. It is one of the latest spring migrants of all North American warblers.

● Song: "teedle-teedle", "turtle-turtle"

● Foraging & Feeding: Mourning Warbler: Eats insects and spiders; gleans food from foliage.

● Breeding & nesting: Mourning Warbler: Three to five brown-spotted, white to creamy white eggs are laid in a nest made of fibers and leaves, lined with grass and hair, and built on or near the ground. Eggs are incubated for 12 days by the female.

● Similar species: Mourning Warbler: Connecticut Warbler is larger, has longer bill and distinct buff to white eye-ring.

Flight Pattern

Fairly swift direct flight for short distances.

● Range & Habitat: Mourning Warbler: Breeds from Alberta to Newfoundland and south to North Dakota and northern New England, and in mountains to Virginia. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include dense thickets of blackberries and briars in forest clearings; also wet woodlands with thick undergrowth.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America