| Scientific Name |  Click photo to enlarge. Photo by Charley Eiseman. |
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| Dendroica fusca Miller - ATBI Database: Specimen Records | |||||
| Common Name | |||||
| Blackburnian Warbler | |||||
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | |
| Animalia | Chordata | Aves | Passeriformes | Parulidae | |
| Animals | Chordates | Birds | Perching Birds | Wood-Warblers | |
The Blackburnian Warbler can be hard to spot, as it is most comfortable in the tops of tall trees. The male, in particular, tends to perch on the highest spot in his territory to sing his song. This warbler's nests are also placed in these lofty locations, and can be situated as high as 25 meters (82 feet) from the ground.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
Length: 10.8 -12 cm
Physical characteristics: This small bird is brilliantly colored. The adult male has a bright orange forehead, throat and breast. The back and wings are black, with a white patch on the wing and white streaks on the back. The underparts are white with black streaking on the flanks. The female has similar coloring, although it is somewhat duller, with white wing bars instead of patches.
Voice: Song is a series of high-pitched tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee notes followed by a variable ending, often an ascending slur to a very high note or a brief chatter. Song recorded by John R. Sauer.
Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter: Blackburnian Warbler
Photographs:
Click photo to enlarge.
Photo by G. Ron Austing.
DISTRIBUTION
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Breeding: The Blackburnian Warbler is found in the southeast corner of Canada, in the northeastern United States and extending south along the Appalachian Mountains. Click on the map on the left to see the breeding range as determined by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). |
| Map not available. | Winter: This bird is a neotropical migrant, traveling to lower Central America, and south to northern South America for the winter. Most winter in the northern Andes Mountains. |
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In Park: The Blackburnian Warbler is a common breeding bird species in the Park. A survey of breeding birds in the Park, performed from 1996-1999, ranked Blackburnian Warbler as the 32nd most common species out of 113 species observed during the breeding season. |
 Click maps to enlarge. |
Estimates from this survey indicate that overall Blackburnian Warbler density in the Park during the breeding season is approximately 0.16 pairs/hectare with peak density occurring between 3,000 - 5,000 feet (approximately 0.26 pairs/hectare). |
NATURAL HISTORY
Breeding habitat
During the nesting season, this species is found in coniferous or mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. It seems to prefer mature forests. It will occasionally nest in deciduous forests in the southern portion of its range.
Mating system
Monogamous; one brood is raised per year, although a female may lay subsequent clutches if the previous nesting attempts fail.
Nest
The nest is a dense cup shape, typically located on a conifer limb well out from the trunk. (The hemlock is a frequent choice for the nest site, if these trees are present.) It is constructed of twigs, bark and plant fibers, and lined with lichens, moss, fine grass, pine needles and hair. The female builds the nest.
Eggs
The female lays 3 – 5 eggs in a clutch. The eggs are white to greenish-white with brown markings forming a wreath at the larger end. 17mm (0.7'').
Chick development
The chicks are altricial at hatching which occurs after 11 – 12 days of incubation by the female. The female also broods alone. Both parents care for the nestlings and after fledging may divide up the brood. The number of days from hatching to fledging is not known.
Diet
This bird’s diet is made up almost exclusively of insects and other invertebrates during the breeding season. The Blackburnian Warbler will supplement its diet with fruit in the winter. It gleans its prey from small branches, or feeds from the underside of leaves while hovering. It will occasionally hawk for insects. It forages high in the trees, with the males foraging at a higher level than the females.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
The population numbers of the Blackburnian Warbler seem to be holding steady, despite loss of preferred habitat in some areas of its breeding and wintering range.
This warbler is not a common host to the cowbird.
Special Protection Status
Rangewide: None
Region: On the Tennessee Natural Heritage Program's "Tracked" list (2001).
In Park: All plants and animals are protected within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Collection requires a permit, which is usually granted only for research or educational purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Maps
Breeding: Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2005. Version 6.2.2006. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Winter: N/AIn Park: Discover Life in America - All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. 2007. The ATBI Database. http://tremont22.campus.utk.edu/ATBI_start.cfm, Discover Life in America, Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738.
Photographs
Ron Austing.com, Wildlife Photography and Charley Eiseman, Braddock Bay Bird Observatory.Song or Call
John R. Sauer, Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html
Text
Camille Sobun and Susan Ann Shriner, 2003.
Web page
REFERENCES
Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117: 847-858.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed. The Union, Washington, D. C.
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.
Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.
Morse, D. H. 1994. Blackburnian Warbler (Dendroica fusca). In The Birds of North America, No. 102 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.
