Female Tennessee Warbler #1

This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, Images That Excite You.
The Tennessee warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina) is a New World warbler that... more

by J McCombie

Title

Female Tennessee Warbler #1

Artist

J McCombie

Medium

Photograph - Untouched

Description

This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, "Images That Excite You".
The Tennessee warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina) is a New World warbler that breeds in eastern North America and winters in southern Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. The specific name peregrina is from Latin peregrinus "wanderer".
The Tennessee warbler is 11.5 cm (4.5 in) long, has a 19.69 cm (7.75 in) wingspan, and weighs roughly 10 g (0.35 oz). The breeding male has olive back, shoulders, rump and vent. The flight feathers are brownish-black. It has a slate gray neck, crown and eyeline. The underside is a gray-white. The female is similar to the male, but is much duller and has a greener tinge to the underside. The Tennessee warbler has long wings, short tail and a thin, pointy bill. Juveniles and first-year birds are quite similar to the female. Tennessee warblers resemble female black-throated blue warblers. The only difference is that the black-throated blue has a darker cheek and two white wing spots. This bird can be confused with the red-eyed vireo, which is larger, moves more deliberately and sings almost constantly. The orange-crowned warbler can also look similar, but lacks the white eyebrow, is greyer-brown above and has yellow undertail coverts.
Small and stocky for a warbler, with a short tail and a thin and sharply pointed bill (markedly smaller and more pointed than a Red-eyed Vireo's bill). Breeding males have a gray head with a white line over the eye, contrasting with a green back and no wingbars. The underparts are whitish all the way through the undertail coverts. Females and nonbreeding males are more greenish, with less contrast between head and back. Occasionally very olive-yellow all over except for white undertail coverts.
Tennessee Warblers forage on slender branches high in the forest canopy, feeding primarily on insects. On their breeding grounds a primary food is a small caterpillar called spruce budworm. Tennessee Warblers breed in coniferous or mixed deciduous-coniferous forest across Canada. On migration they can occur in most types of forests and woodlands. Winters in second-growth tropical forests. Tennessee Warblers are dainty, thin-billed warblers that breed in the boreal forest of Canada. Though they lack the brilliant colors of other warbler species, breeding males are a crisp mixture of gray head, white stripe over the eye, and green back. Females and nonbreeders can look more generally yellowish, inviting confusion with species like Orange-crowned Warblers, but they always show white under the tail. This numerous species eats mostly small caterpillars and benefits from the spruce budworm outbreaks that happen periodically in their breeding habitat.

Uploaded

January 25th, 2021