Geographic Range
Prairie warblers (
Dendroica discolor
) have a wide range across North and Central America. The native breeding range of
one prairie warbler subspecies,
Dendroica discolor discolor
, covers the eastern United States. Populations can be found from Georgia, west to
northeastern Texas in the south, and to New York, Massachusetts, and southern Ontario
in the north. Several isolated populations are located in Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas.
This distribution is uneven, and as much as 96 percent of the prairie warbler population
is estimated to breed in the southeastern United States. In winter, prairie warblers
migrate to southern Florida and Caribbean islands in the Greater Antilles and the
Bahamas. A smaller population is known to winter on the eastern coast of southern
Mexico, going south through Honduras. Another subspecies,
Dendroica discolor paludicola
, has resident populations restricted to coastal Florida.
- Biogeographic Regions
- nearctic
- neotropical
Habitat
During their summer breeding season, prairie warblers are found in pine forests, abandoned
agricultural fields, the borders between forests and grasslands, and dune habitats.
They are less common in denser forests. During winter, they live in desert washes,
scrubs, pine forests, and mangroves. They are also found in citrus groves and coffee
fields on some islands. This species is not generally found above 1220 m elevation.
Florida prairie warblers (
D. d. paludicola
) are restricted to mangrove swamps year-round.
- Habitat Regions
- temperate
- tropical
- terrestrial
- Terrestrial Biomes
- savanna or grassland
- forest
- scrub forest
- Wetlands
- swamp
- Other Habitat Features
- agricultural
Physical Description
Prairie warblers are small; they weigh between 6.4 and 8.8 g and are 11 cm long on
average. Both sexes have yellow coloring on their faces and undersides, and olive
coloring on their heads and backs. They often have chestnut streaks along their back
as well. They have long white tail feathers and yellow wing-bars. Males have black
markings on their faces, with notable semicircles below their eyes. Females are duller
in comparison to males, with an olive color where males have black. Juvenile prairie
warblers have duller pigmentation and weaker or absent markings on their body. Florida
prairie warblers (
D. d. paludicola
) have less white on their tails.
Prairie warblers are similar in appearance to other warbler species. Pine warblers
(
Dendroica pinus
) are most similar, but pine warblers are bigger, have lighter markings, and do not
have chestnut patches on their backs.
Magnolia warblers (
Dendroica magnolia
) may be mistaken for juvenile prairie warblers, but magnolia warblers have gray heads
and yellow rears.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- sexes colored or patterned differently
- male more colorful
Reproduction
Every breeding season prairie warblers form mating pairs. After they migrate north,
males establish territories and sing to attract females. Encounters between males
and females may result in sexual chases, where males attempt to catch and pull the
tail feathers of females. Female will either escape, or drive off males after 2 to
6 seconds of tail pulling. Males are always rejected at this stage. Alternatively,
males will perform display flights during encounters with females. A behavior known
as "pounce-on-female" is similar to a sexual chase, but ends with females turning
around towards males, and entering a defensive posture. Males will then either leave
or attempt to sing to otherwise entice females before leaving. This behavior becomes
more common two or more days after pairs first meet. According to Nolan (1978), it
is difficult to tell whether a pair will stay together until egg laying occurs, and
females may abandon males even during nest construction.
- Mating System
- monogamous
Prairie warblers will breed up to two times per year. Their primary breeding season
begins from April to May and ends between June and July. A second breeding attempt
may occur in June or July and end in August. This happens if the first breeding event
occurs early enough in the season, or if it fails. Females have an average clutch
size of 4 eggs, which hatch an average of 12 days after being laid. Hatchlings weigh
between 0.8 and 1.4 g at birth. Hatchlings fledge an average of 9 days after birth,
after which they begin to leave the nest. Over the next 40 days, on average, fledglings
stay with their parents, who provide them with food. Fledglings begin to forage for
themselves after about 10 days and are able to fly and fully care for themselves after
about 24 days. In total, fledglings become independent 34 to 55 days after they are
born. Prairie warblers become sexually mature at approximately a year old.
Female prairie warblers build a nest consisting of an outer layer of plant bark, a
padding layer made of feathers, fur or soft plant seeds, and a lining made of grass,
fur, feathers and/or ferns. Nests have an average outer diameter of 60 mm, with a
42 mm average inner diameter. Nests are sometimes reused by different females in subsequent
years.
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- fertilization
- oviparous
Paired prairie warblers help raise their young until they are independent – around
40 days after hatching. Females incubate the eggs while males forage for themselves
and their mates. After eggs hatch, females spend time foraging instead of incubating.
Newborn prairie warblers are unable to feed or care for themselves, so parents care
for their young until they leave the nest. Once juveniles are independent, they often
leave by themselves, but sometimes will be driven away by their parents.
- Parental Investment
- altricial
- male parental care
- female parental care
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
provisioning
- male
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-weaning/fledging
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-independence
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
Little information is known about the lifespan of prairie warblers. The oldest-recorded
bird was 10.3 years old. Survivorship and lifespan estimates are complicated by their
migratory nature. No average lifespan data, either in the wild or captivity, is available
as of 2015.
Behavior
Prairie warblers primarily travel by flying, but will hop when they need to move short
distances along the ground. Prairie warblers are not usually social outside of breeding
season, and generally hunt on their own. Males often engage in territorial fights,
and will chase other males out of their territory. Males also fly into the territories
of other males until chased out. Some fights may attract males and females from the
surrounding area.
Prairie warblers are active during the day and twilight, and sleep at night. They
forage most intensely around dusk, but they hunt throughout the day. Tail-bobbing,
preening, and bathing are commonly observed behaviors for this species.
- Key Behaviors
- arboreal
- flies
- diurnal
- motile
- migratory
- territorial
Home Range
During their breeding season, prairie warblers have territories averaging 15.6 square
km. Territory sizes depend on local population density. Prairie warblers have been
recorded with territory sizes as small as 2.4 square km and as large as 35 square
km. Male prairie warblers claim territory as they arrive to breeding grounds after
spring migration. They sing to establish the boundaries of their territories, and
chase away male rivals in their territory. Males attempt to reclaim their territory
from previous breeding seasons, and try to displace any rivals already present. Insufficient
evidence exists on whether prairie warblers are territorial outside of breeding season.
Communication and Perception
Prairie warblers forage using sight. They also communicate to each other using songs,
calls, and visual displays. Males have specific songs and calls for mate attraction
and others for general social interactions, such as territorial conflicts. Songs are
usually made up of 4 to 20 notes, while calls are usually one note. Prairie warblers
use calls to establish contact between birds or warn of nearby predators. Female prairie
warblers have been only rarely observed to sing. Males perform special display flights
as part of their mating display. Both sexes give specific displays if threatened,
crouching rigidly and facing the threat directly. Males also perform submissive displays,
such as turning away from other males.
Food Habits
Prairie warblers are primarily insectivorous, eating a variety of arthropods. Less-frequently, they eat gastropods, seeds, and fruit. Prairie warblers hunt in a variety of locations within their habitats. They will feed on the ground, perched on tree trunks, or in the treetops. They are most commonly observed foraging on tree branches and fly-catching.
Stomach content tests on prairie warblers in their breeding range found that the animal matter in their stomachs consisted of 42% beetles ( Coleoptera ), 29% moths or butterflies ( Lepidoptera ), 8% flies ( Diptera ), 8% ants, wasps, or bees ( Hymenoptera ), 3% spiders ( Araneae ), 4% aphids or cicadas ( Homoptera ), and 1% other bug species ( Hemiptera ). There is less data available on their winter range diets, but present data suggest that they not change significantly from their summer range.
D. d. paludicola
has the same general diet, but with a higher occurrence of spiders fewer beetles.
Also, the prey species eaten by this subspecies of prairie warbler were more likely
to be aquatic.
- Primary Diet
-
carnivore
- insectivore
- eats non-insect arthropods
- Animal Foods
- insects
- terrestrial non-insect arthropods
- mollusks
- Plant Foods
- seeds, grains, and nuts
- fruit
Predation
Prairie warblers are most at risk of predation before they hatch or while they are fledging. Adults are not generally subject to predation, although nesting females may be killed by nest predators. Frequent predators of nestlings and eggs include squirrel species ( Sciurus ), eastern chipmunks ( Tamias striatus ), raccoons ( Procyon lotor ), species of deer mouse ( Peromyscus ), and local snake species, such as mangrove water snakes ( Nerodia compressicauda ). Fledglings are also targeted by chipmunk species ( Tamias ) and snakes. Additional predators include red-winged blackbirds ( Agelaius phoeniceus ) and Norway rats ( Rattus norvegicus ).
Prairie warblers have behavioral adaptions to ward off predators. Adult birds sound
alarm calls to warn nearby birds – especially fledglings – of predators. Groups of
prairie warblers have been reported to mob snakes who get close to their nesting sites.
Nesting prairie warblers also perform distraction displays at threatening animals.
They do this by perching on branches away from their nests while performing a distracting
display and making loud calls.
Ecosystem Roles
Prairie warblers hunt a variety of arthropod species. They serve as hosts for a variety of parasitic species, including northern fowl mites ( Ornithonyssus sylviarum ), harvest mites ( Trombicula ), rabbit ticks ( Haemaphysalis leporispalustris ), feather lice ( Menacanthus and Ricinus ), and scaly leg mites ( Knemidokoptes jamaicensis ). They also host unidentified nematode species.
Prairie warblers are also victims of brood parasitism from brown-headed cowbirds (
Molothrus ater
) and shiny cowbirds (
Molothrus bonariensis
). Up to 40% of prairie warbler nests may suffer from cowbird parasitism, with nests
early in the breeding season having higher incidences of parasitism. Brown-headed
cowbirds are a common source of nest failure in prairie warblers due to nest abandonment.
Scaly leg mites (
Knemidokoptes jamaicensis
) have been linked to stress and muscle loss in warblers wintering in Jamaica. The
prairie warbler subspecies
D. d. paludicola
is likely to suffer from brood parasitism in the future, as cowbirds (including shiny
cowbirds) spread to southern Florida.
- northern fowl mite Ornithonyssus sylviarum
- harvest mites Trombicula
- feather mites Analgesidae
- rabbit tick Haemaphysalis leporispalustris
- feather lice Menacanthus
- feather lice Ricinus
- brown-headed cowbirds Molothrus ater
- roundworms Nematoda
- shiny cowbirds Molothrus bonariensis
- scaley leg mites Knemidokoptes jamaicensis
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
As an insectivore, prairie warblers have been shown to help control agricultural pests.
This was observed by Kellerman et al. (2008) in Jamaica, where prairie warbler presence
was correlated with an increase in coffee production.
- Positive Impacts
- controls pest population
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no known adverse effects of prairie warblers on humans.
Conservation Status
Prairie warblers are considered a species of least concern on the IUCN red list and
are not on the federal endangered species list. They are also not included in CITES
appendices. Prairie warblers are protected under the U.S Migratory Bird Act. While
they are currently experiencing population declines, these declines are not severe
enough to warrant special status. Declines are due to natural succession of shrubby
breeding habitats to unsuitable forested habitats. If steps are not taken to reduce
the loss of breeding habitats, population declines will continue and prairie warblers
may become a threatened species. Some regional populations are at immediate risk,
and they are listed as endangered by the state of Michigan.
Additional Links
Contributors
Brian Pratt (author), Radford University - Fall 2015, Cari Mcgregor (editor), Radford University, Zeb Pike (editor), Radford University, Karen Powers (editor), Radford University, April Tingle (editor), Radford University, Jacob Vaught (editor), Radford University, Galen Burrell (editor), Special Projects.
- Nearctic
-
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- Neotropical
-
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- temperate
-
that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).
- tropical
-
the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- tropical savanna and grassland
-
A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.
- savanna
-
A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.
- temperate grassland
-
A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.
- forest
-
forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.
- scrub forest
-
scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.
- swamp
-
a wetland area that may be permanently or intermittently covered in water, often dominated by woody vegetation.
- agricultural
-
living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.
- monogamous
-
Having one mate at a time.
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- fertilization
-
union of egg and spermatozoan
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- altricial
-
young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.
- male parental care
-
parental care is carried out by males
- female parental care
-
parental care is carried out by females
- arboreal
-
Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.
- diurnal
-
- active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- migratory
-
makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds
- territorial
-
defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- carnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats meat
- insectivore
-
An animal that eats mainly insects or spiders.
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
References
Buerkle, C. 2000. Morphological variation among migratory and nonmigratory populations of prairie warblers. The Wilson Bulletin , 112/1: 99-107.
Faaborg, J., S. Latta. 2001. Winter site fidelity of prairie warblers in the Dominican Republic. The Condor , 103/3: 455-468.
Jackson, W., S. Rohwer. 1989. Within-season breeding dispersal in prairie warblers and other passerines. The Condor , 91/2: 233-241.
Kellermann, J., M. Johnson, A. Stercho, S. Hackett. 2008. Ecological and economic services provided by birds on Jamaican blue mountain coffee farms. Conservation Ecology , 22/5: 1177-1186.
Klimkiewicz, K., C. Klimkiewicz, A. Futcher. 1983. Longevity records of North American birds: Remizidae through Parulinae. Journal of Field Ornithology , 54/3: 293.
Latta, S. 2003. Effects of scaley-leg mite infestations on body condition and site fidelity of migratory warblers in the Dominican Republic. The Auk , 120/3: 730-743.
Morse, D. 1989. American Warblers: An Ecological and Behavioral Perspective . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Nolan, V. 1978. The ecology and behavior of the prairie warbler, Dendroica discolor. Ornithological Monographs , 1/26: 1-595.
Nolan Jr., V., E. Ketterson, C. Buerkle. 2014. "Prairie warbler (Setophaga discolor)" (On-line). Birds of North America (on-line). Accessed September 23, 2015 at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/455/articles/ .
Pease, C., J. Grzybowski. 1995. Assessing the consequences of brood parasitism and nest predation on seasonal fecundity in passerine birds. The Auk , 112/2: 343-363.
Prather, J., A. Cruz. 1995. Breeding biology of Florida prairie warblers and Cuban yellow warblers. Wilson Bulletin , 107/3: 475-484.
Stephenson, T., S. Whittle. 2013. The Warbler Guide . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Wells, J. 2007. Birder's Conservation Handbook . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
BirdLife International. 2012. "Dendroica discolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012 e.T22721725A39850788" (On-line). Accessed September 11, 2015 at http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T22721725A39850788.en .