Prothonotary Warbler

IDENTIFICATION: A bright yellow warbler with blue-gray wings and tail. Length: 13-14 cm.; weight: 14-16 g.

VOICE: A sharp call note, like the more common Louisiana Waterthrush. On the breeding grounds it has a simple song of a single note repeated a dozen times. Audio (M. Oberle).

HABITAT: Mangroves and lowland swamps in Puerto Rico.

HABITS: Feeds on caterpillars, beetles, other insects, and spiders. Unlike most warblers that breed in North America, it builds its nest in woodpecker holes and other cavities. The male escorts the female to several cavities on his territory in a lowland swamp, and the female chooses one hole in which to build her nest. The female incubates the 4-5 eggs for 12-14 days, but both parents feed the chicks. Although the chicks fledge 10-11 days after hatching, parents will feed them until they are up to 35 days old. Most Prothonotaries leave their breeding territories by late August for the migration south. This species often returns to the same winter feeding area each year.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: An uncommon winter resident. Breeding bird surveys in North America have documented a decline in this species (-1.5% per year in the period 1966-1998), in part due to wetlands destruction and cowbird nest parasitism. However, nest box programs are being started in some of its breeding range to improve reproductive success.

RANGE: Breeds in the eastern USA. Winters in the lowlands of Central America and Colombia, rarely in the islands of the eastern Caribbean.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; PARULIDAE

Photo: B. Zaremba


Photo: G. Beaton*


Photo: G. Beaton

References

Arendt, W.J. 1992. Status of North American migrant landbirds in the Caribbean region: a summary. Pp. 143-171 in Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds (J.M. Hagan III and D.W. Johnston, eds.) Smithsonian Instit. Press, Washington, D.C.

Bent, A.C. 1953. Life histories of North American wood warblers. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 203. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1963).

Dunn, J. and K. Garrett. 1997. A field guide to warblers of North America. Houghton Mifflin, NY.

Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/ Fireside, NY.

Faaborg, J. and J.E.Winters. 1980. More returns from the Guánica forest, Puerto Rico. J Field Ornithol. 51(4):368.

Faaborg, J. and W.J. Arendt. 1984. Population sizes and philopatry of winter resident warblers in Puerto Rico. J. Field Ornithol. 55:376-378.

Faaborg, J. and W.J. Arendt. 1992. Long-term declines of winter resident warblers in a Puerto Rican dry forest: which species are in trouble? Pp. 57-63 in Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds (J.M. Hagan III and D.W. Johnston, eds.) Smithsonian Instit. Press, Washington, D.C.

Peterjohn, B.G., J.R. Sauer, and W.A. Link. 1996. The 1994 and 1995 summary of the North American breeding bird survey. Bird Populations 3:48-66.

Petit, L.J.. 1999. Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). No. 408 in The birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.).The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Prothonotary Warbler, Spanish text

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