National Geographic Magazine/Volume 31/Number 4/Friends of Our Forests/Audubon's Warbler

Audubon's Warbler (Dendroica auduboni)


Length, about 5 inches. Much like the yellow-rump, but with yellow crown and throat patch.

Range: Breeds from central British Columbia, Alberta, and southwestern Saskatchewan to our southern border, east to South Dakota and Nebraska; winters from California and Texas south to Guatemala.

No member of the wood warbler family is more characteristic of the group than this beautiful bird. In voice, coloration, and habits it is almost the counterpart of the yellow-rump of the Eastern States, for which indeed it might easily be mistaken were it not for its yellow throat, the corresponding area in the yellow-rump being white. It summers in the mountains and shows off to advantage against the dark foliage of the pines. It seems to have little fear of man and in winter frequents orchards, gardens, and dooryards. Wherever it may be, it keeps up an incessant hunt for its insect food, in the pursuit of which, like many others of its family, it sometimes essays the rôle of flycatcher, being very expert and nimble on the wing. This warbler also devours large numbers of ants, flies, scale and plant lice, and noxious bugs.

(See Biol. Surv. Bull. 30, pp. 43–46.)

Source: Henry W. Henshaw (April 1917), “Friends of Our Forests”, The National Geographic Magazine 31(4): 307. (Illustration from p. 309.)