Prothonotary Warbler
Protonotaria citrea
Shockingly bright warbler of swamps and wet forest. Adult males have gorgeous yellow head and body with greenish back and blue-gray wings. Females and immature are slightly duller but still distinctive. Breeds in wet deciduous forests, primarily in the southeastern U.S. Winters to northern South America, where still has an affinity for wet forests, including mangroves. Typically stays in the understory, but males can perch up high when singing. Listen for loud, piercing series of 6-10 “tsweet” notes. One of only two warblers that nests in cavities.
Identification
The prothonotary warbler is 13 cm (5.1 in) long, weighs 12.5 g (0.44 oz), and has a wingspan of 22 cm (8.75 in). It has an olive-coloured back with blue-grey wings and tail, yellow underparts, a relatively long pointed bill, and black legs. The adult male has a bright orange-yellow head. Females and immature birds are duller and have a yellow head. In flight from below, the short, wide tail has a distinctive two-toned pattern, white at the base and dark at the tip.
Taxonomy
The prothonotary warbler was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Louisiana. Buffon coined the French name Le figuier protonotaire. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle, which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Motacilla citrea in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The prothonotary warbler is now the only species placed in the genus Protonotaria that was introduced in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird. The species is monotypic, no subspecies are recognised.<p>The genus name is from Late Latin protonotarius, meaning "prothonotary", a notary attached to the Byzantine court who wore golden-yellow robes. The specific citrea is from Latin citreus meaning the colour "citrine". It was once known as the golden swamp warbler.<p>A molecular phylogenetic study of the family Parulidae published in 2010 found that the prothonotary warbler was a sister species to Swainson's warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii).
- Scientific name
- Protonotaria citrea
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Parulidae
- Genus
- Protonotaria
Range and habitat
The prothonotary warbler mostly breeds in hardwood swamps in extreme southeastern Ontario and the eastern United States. However, it may nest near other bodies of water such as creeks, streams, ponds, and swimming pools.<p>The habitat of the warblers during migration is not well known. However, they are particularly prominent in Belize during spring migration.<p>The warblers winter in the West Indies, Central America and northern South America, primarily in Mangrove Swamps.<p>It is a rare vagrant to parts of the western United States, most notably California.
- Breeding range
- NA : c, e, se USA
- Non-breeding range
- MA, West Indies and n SA
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Eurasian Wren
Troglodytes troglodytes
Tiny brown bird that often holds its short little tail cocked up. Often sings from a fairly exposed perch, but at other times rather mouselike, creeping in brambles and understory. As such, can be quite inconspicuous. Favors wooded areas with a dense understory, as well as gardens, hedges in farmland, heathland, and coastal cliffs. Heard much more than seen: song is loud, bright, and musical, a varied series of trills and ringing warbles, repeated. Chipping calls can also give away its presence.
Southern Bristle-Tyrant
Pogonotriccus eximius
Tiny and strikingly-plumaged flycatcher with a long tail and distinct face pattern. Has a gray crown, a broad white eyebrow with a vertical black crescent running behind the eyes. The body is olive-yellow above and bright yellow below. An uncommon and threatened inhabitant of the middle levels of montane forests and forest edges including Araucaria forests. The song is a high-pitched trill.
Asian Dowitcher
Limnodromus semipalmatus
Very uncommon large, long-billed shorebird, nearly the size of a godwit, found in coastal mudflats and open marshes. Breeding adult extensively brick-red below, dark and strongly marked with brick-red tones above. Nonbreeding adult grayish brown with a duller, browner bill. Juvenile dark above, with broad gold feather edges, pale below, washed with warm buff or gold tones and with neat dark stipples and chevron-shaped marks. Blackish legs distinguish Asian from Long-billed Dowitcher, which has yellowish-green legs. Blackish or brownish bill of adult Asian differs from bicolored bill of godwits; note that bill of juvenile Asian has pale base.
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