Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum)

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A Field Guide to Warblers of North America (The Peterson Field Guide Series). by Kimball L. Garrett, Jon L. Dunn, Cindy House (Illustrator)

Warblers of Eastern North America

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of John Cassady

Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum)

Identification: 4.5 inches from tip of bill to tip of tail.

Breeding Male: The beedinge male has a rusty-red cap followed by a yellow band across the top of the eye. There is a thin black line through the eye. The throat, breast, and belly are yellow (in the eastern populations) with dark brown streaks. The back is olive-grey with brown streaks and the rump is bright olive in color. The Palm Warbler has the habit of wagging its tail. The underside of the tail has two ovate patches.

Female: Very similar to the male.

Fall Male and Female: Similar to the breeding birds, but somewhat duller. In particular the rusty-red cap of the breedings birds is not as noticeable.

Immature: Similar to the fall male and female.

Similar Species: The Palm Warbler is one of the few Dendroica warblers foraging on the ground. The tail wagging habit will separate from most other warblers except the Prairie Warbler. The Prairie Warbler has a double black line on the face and lacks the rusty-red cap. Fall and immature Palm Warblers are darker and browner than their counterparts of the Prairie Warbler and the breast is dull and not distinctly yellow.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Palm Warbler's breeding range extends throughout the Northern Boreal Forest, although it is absent from Alaska. The southward edge of its breeding range extends into the transitional forest of the northeastern and north-central United States.

Overwintering Range: The Palm Warbler winters in the southeastern United States and southward into the American tropics.

Habitat: During the breeding season the Palm Warbler is found in and around bogs. During migration and over the winter, the species is found in open places and along the margins of marshes.

Food: Insects.

Behavior: The song is a weak, dry trill.

Reproduction: The nest is constructed of grass and pieces of bark and lined with feathers. The nest is placed on the ground in a clump of grass. The clutch contains 4 to 5 eggs. Incubation takes about 12 days and another 12 pass between hatching and the fledging of the young.

Notes: The Palm Warbler is another of those inappropriately name warbler species. The species breaks into two populations; eastern and western. The western breast of the western population is suffused with white. The rusty-red cap is not as distinctive in the western population as it is in the eastern one.