Cerulean Warbler

Dendroica ceruleaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Cerulean Warbler: Small warbler with sky-blue, faintly streaked upperparts and black-streaked white flanks. Black band separates white throat and belly. Wings have two bold white bars. Female has unstreaked, blue-gray upperparts, yellow wash on face and breast, pale streaks on flanks, and yellow eyebrows.

Range and Habitat

Cerulean Warbler: Breeds from extreme southwestern Quebec and southern Ontario west to Minnesota and Nebraska, and south from eastern Texas to North Carolina. Spends winters in montane forests of northern South America. Prefers mature forests with broad-leaved, deciduous species and an open understory; often found near bottomlands and rivers.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"zhee-zhee-zhee-zizizizi zzzeeeet"

Interesting Facts

The Cerulean Warbler’s population is dropping faster than any other warbler species in the United States. Between 1966 and 1999, it declined an average of 4% per year for a total population loss of 70%. Current estimates are at around 560,000 birds.
If the female has to abandon a nest and begin a new one, she will leave behind the grass, bark and hair, but will take the spider web with her for the new nest.
Females frequently exit their canopy nests by tumbling from the nest. In doing so, the female resembles a leaf falling from a tree until, just above the forest floor, she untucks her wings and swiftly flies off parallel to the ground.
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.

Cerulean Warbler

Cerulean Warbler: Small warbler with sky-blue, faintly streaked upperparts, black-streaked white flanks. Black band separates white throat and belly. Wings have two bold white bars. Black bill, legs and feet. Prefers to stay high in the crowns of mature deciduous trees, making it difficult to see.

● Song: "zhee-zhee-zhee-zizizizi zzzeeeet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Cerulean Warbler: Feeds on insects, with a preference for caterpillars; usually forages in trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Cerulean Warbler: Three to five brown-spotted, white to gray eggs are laid in nest made of bark strips, grass, spider silk, and lichens, and lined with moss and fur. Nest is built by the female and built 15 to 90 feet above the ground, usually on a horizontal branch in a deciduous tree. Incubation ranges from 12 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Cerulean Warbler: Male is distinctive. Female and juvenile are distinguished from other warblers by gray (not olive) backs, strong white wing-bars, and distinct white band above eye.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Cerulean Warbler: Breeds from extreme southwestern Quebec and southern Ontario west to Minnesota and Nebraska, and south from eastern Texas to North Carolina. Spends winters in montane forests of northern South America. Prefers mature forests with broad-leaved, deciduous species and an open understory; often found near bottomlands and rivers.

^BreedingMonogamous

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.3 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America