BIRD SPECIES

Hermit Warbler

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Setophaga occidentalis

The Hermit Warbler is a small songbird with classic warbler proportions, including a moderately long tail and a rather short, slender, straight bill.

Both sexes measure about 5.5 inches in length, with a wingspan of 7.9 inches and weigh around 9 - 13 grams.

Breeding males have a golden-yellow head and a black throat, with a dark gray back and two white wingbars. The upper breast is white with blackish streaking.

Adult females and non-breeding males have similar pattern but with subdued colors. Immature birds have no black throat.

CALL: Include a flat, dry "chip" and a high-pitched "zee" (in flight).

SONG: They have two different songs. Most often heard is a series of 4 high- pitched notes, followed by a descending phrase, and ending in rapid series of buzzy notes, sometimes with a final high- pitched note.

The alternate song begins with 3 or 4 buzzy notes and ends with a rising-and-falling ending phrase.

Eats a strict diet of insects and spiders.

Tall coniferous forests, especially fir, pine, spruce, Douglas-fir, redwood, and sequoia, usually in mountainous areas.

Winters in pine, pine-oak, and cloud forest habitats in mountains of Mexico and northern Central America.

Migrants also occur in stream corridors forests, at desert oases, and in suburban parks.

Summers in the Pacific Northwest from San Francisco Bay to the Canadian border, as well as the mountains of southern California.

Winters in Mexico and Central America.

The female builds a deep cup-shaped nest with moss, stems of herbaceous vegetation, lichen, conifer needles, and twigs, and lined with softer material such as feathers or plant down.

It is placed anywhere from 20 - 120 feet from the ground. She lays 4 - 5 eggs.

SOURCES:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
https://www.sdakotabirds.com
https://en.wikipedia.org