WILSON’S WARBLER GALLERY
(Cardellina pushilla)


eBird offers this brief description of the Wilson’s Warbler:  Small, bright yellow warbler with olive upperparts. Many have a distinctive black cap. Compared with Yellow Warbler, note its small size, smaller bill, and relatively longer, thinner tail. Forages in dense shrubs for insects.  Winters in Central America.

I happened to be sitting at Warbler Pond at Warbler Woods Sanctuary on the morning of May 8, 2020, when a Wilson’s Warbler stopped by for a quick bath.  I managed to take a few photos of this cutie, and it is my pleasure to share some of them with you on this page!

Wilson's Warbler at Warbler Pond sporting his signature black cap, May 8, 2020.
Wilson's Warbler taking a bath at Warbler Pond, May 8, 2020.
A little dark, but you can still see this Wilson's Warber's black cap. Warbler Woods, May 8, 2020.

Wilson’s Warbler “Cool Facts” from All About Birds…

  • The majority of Wilson’s Warblers nest on the ground, except for populations in coastal California and Oregon where they nest up to 5 feet off the ground. These birds also tend to lay fewer eggs per nest compared to their ground-nesting relatives.
  • The Wilson’s Warbler is found in a large diversity of environments in the winter. It is the only migrant warbler regularly found in tropical high plains (paramo).
  • Naturalist Alexander Wilson, often called the “father of American ornithology,” described the Wilson’s Warbler in 1811 which he called the “green black-capt flycatcher.”
  • When most songbird nestlings are ready to leave the nest, they hop out and don’t return to the nest, but some Wilson’s Warbler fledglings head back to the nest for a night or two after fledging.
  • Wilson’s Warblers tend to be brighter yellow in the West and paler yellow in the East. Pacific Coast populations have the brightest yellow, almost orange, foreheads and faces. Rocky Mountain and Alaskan birds also tend to be slightly larger than the Eastern and Pacific Coast populations.
  • During spring migration, Wilson’s Warblers en route to Alaska to breed are the last ones to pass through the southwestern U.S. Birds that eventually breed in coastal California pass through Arizona first, followed by birds headed to the Pacific Northwest and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and finally birds headed to Alaska. Read more about how scientists are using DNA to study Wilson’s Warbler migration.
  • For decades biologists grouped Wilson’s Warblers into three subspecies, but a recent genetic study indicates that there could be 6 distinct breeding groups of Wilson’s Warblers and these 6 groups tend to segregate on the wintering grounds. Birds breeding in eastern Canada spend the winter mostly in the Yucatan Peninsula, while those breeding in the Pacific Northwest, the Sierra Nevada, and coastal California spend the winter in Baja California Sur and along the west coast of Sinaloa, Mexico.
  • The oldest recorded Wilson’s Warbler was a male, and at least 8 years, 11 months, when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2008. He had been banded in the same state in 2000.