Nashville warbler

The Nashville warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) is a small songbird in the New World warbler family, found in North and Central America. It breeds in parts of the northern and western United States and southern Canada, and migrates to winter in southern California and Texas, Mexico, and the north of Central America. It has a gray head and a green back, and its underparts are yellow and white.

Description
The Nashville warbler is a small warbler. Both male and female Nashville warblers have a gray head fading into a greenish back and wings, a white belly and a yellow throat and breast. They have a complete white eye ring, no wing bars, and a thin pointed black bill. Adult males have a rusty brown patch on their crown, which is usually hard to see and often covered by gray feathers. Males will raise it slightly when agitated. Females and immature birds have a duller olive-grey head, and less bold yellow on their throat. The Nashville warbler is closely related to Virginia's warbler, Lucy's warbler, and the Colima warbler, the four sharing generally similar plumage.



Measurements:


 * Length: 4.3 - 5.1 in
 * Weight: 0.2 - 0.5 oz
 * Wingspan: 6.7 - 7.9 in

Call
The song of the nominate subspecies consists of a rapid seewit-seewit-seewit-ti-ti-ti. Males sing from open perches on the nesting territory. The call sounds like a high seet. Western birds of the race ridgwayi have a slightly lower-pitched, richer song, and a sharper call note.

Taxonomy
The Nashville warbler was originally described as Sylvia ruficapilla by Alexander Wilson in 1811, using a name which had already been used by John Latham, but not in a valid description according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Possibly unintentionally, Wilson spelled its name as Sylvia rubricapilla in a later volume in 1812, and this spelling was once commonly used. The genus Sylvia is now restricted to Old World species of the family Sylviidae, unrelated to species such as the Nashville warbler, that are classified in the New World warbler family Parulidae. Until recently, most taxonomies have put this species in the genus Vermivora. However, this species forms a clade with several related species classed in Vermivora, such as the Tennessee warbler and Lucy's warbler, which are more closely related to the flame-throated warbler and crescent-chested warbler than to other species of Vermivora. They were classified in the genus Oreothlypis along with the flame-throated and crescent-chested warblers, although the new genus Leiothlypis was initially proposed for the Nashville warbler and allies, excluding the latter two species.

Two subspecies exist, with discrete breeding ranges. The nominate subspecies, L. r. ruficapilla, breeds in northeastern North America. The other subspecies, L. r. ridgwayi, known as the Calaveras warbler, nests in western North America. The latter differs from the former in its relatively duller plumage and more persistent tail movements.

Distribution and habitat
Nashville warblers breed in two distinct areas, one in Canada and the northeastern United States, and another in the western United States. The northeastern part of its range extends from Côte-Nord and Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada to central Alberta. For the most part, it only breeds between about 52 and 45.5 degrees north, but it is also found less commonly in the Appalachians of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Although named after Nashville, Tennessee, the Nashville warbler only visits that area during migration. They migrate to southernmost Texas and California, mid-Mexico, and the northernmost parts of Central America (Guatemala and El Salvador) in winter. In their breeding range, they prefer open mixed woods and bog habitats.

Behavior
Nashville warblers forage by gleaning in the lower parts of trees and shrubs, frequently flicking their tails. In winter, they join together into loose flocks, and sometimes join mixed-species feeding flocks. These birds mainly eat insects, but will supplement this diet with berries and nectar in the winter.

Nashville warblers conceal their nests on the ground under shrubs. Nests are open cups built out of bark strips, leaves, and moss, and are lined with fine materials such as feathers or hairs. Typically, four or five eggs are laid in a clutch, and incubated for 11–12 days. Only the female incubates the eggs, though the male brings her food. On hatching, the young have no feathers apart from some brown down, and their eyes are closed. Juveniles fledge and leave the nest 11 days after hatching.

There is a single record of hybridization with the Tennessee warbler.

Articles
-->
 * Airola DA & Barrett RH. (1985). Foraging and Habitat Relationships of Insect-Gleaning Birds in a Sierra-Nevada USA Mixed-Conifer Forest. Condor. vol 87, no 2. p. 205-216.
 * Bocetti CI. (1994). Techniques for prolonged confinement and transport of small insectivorous passerines. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol 65, no 2. p. 232-236.
 * Collins SL, James FC & Risser PG. (1982). Habitat Relationships of Wood Warblers Parulidae in Northern Central Minnesota USA. Oikos. vol 39, no 1. p. 50-58.
 * Hanowski JM, Niemi GJ & Blake JG. (1990). Statistical Perspectives and Experimental Design When Counting Birds on Line Transects. Condor. vol 92, no 2. p. 326-335.
 * Hooper DF. (1991). First Documented Nesting for the Nashville Warbler in Saskatchewan Canada. Blue Jay. vol 49, no 2. p. 68-69.
 * Hutto RL. (1994). The composition and social organization of mixed-species flocks in a tropical deciduous forest in western Mexico. Condor. vol 96, no 1. p. 105-118.
 * Knapton RW. (1984). Parental Feeding of Nestling Nashville Warblers Vermivora-Ruficapilla the Effects of Food Type Brood Size Nestling Age and Time of Day. Wilson Bulletin. vol 96, no 4. p. 594-602.
 * Laurent EJ, Shi H, Gatziolis D, LeBouton JP, Walters MB & Liu J. (2005). Using the spatial and spectral precision of satellite imagery to predict wildlife occurrence patterns. Remote Sensing of Environment. vol 97, no 2. p. 249-262.
 * Lein MR & Wagner GM. (1982). 1st Breeding Record for the Nashville Warbler Vermivora-Ruficapilla in Alberta Canada. Canadian Field Naturalist. vol 96, no 1. p. 88-89.
 * Lemon RE, Struger J & Lechowicz MJ. (1983). Song Features as Species Discriminants in American Warblers Parulidae. Condor. vol 85, no 3. p. 308-322.
 * Lopez Ornat A, Lynch JF & Mackinnon De Montes B. (1989). New and Noteworthy Records of Birds from the Eastern Yucatan Peninsula Mexico. Wilson Bulletin. vol 101, no 3. p. 390-409.
 * Lovette IJ, Clegg SM & Smith TB. (2004). Limited utility of mtDNA markers for determining connectivity among breeding and overwintering locations in three neotropical migrant birds. Conservation Biology. vol 18, no 1. p. 156-166.
 * Manuwal DA. (2003). Bird communities in oak woodlands of southcentral Washington. Northwest Science. vol 77, no 3. p. 194-201.
 * Marcus MJ. (1983). Additions to the Avi Fauna of Honduras. Auk. vol 100, no 3. p. 621-629.
 * Miller JR. (1978). Notes on Birds of San-Salvador Island Watlings the Bahamas. Auk. vol 95, no 2. p. 281-287.
 * Quay WB. (1985). Cloacal Sperm in Spring Migrants Occurrence and Interpretation. Condor. vol 87, no 2. p. 273-280.
 * Reed JM. (1995). Relative vulnerability of extirpation of Montane breeding birds in the Great Basin. Great Basin Naturalist. vol 55, no 4. p. 342-351.
 * Rodewald PG & Matthews SN. (2005). Landbird use of riparian and upland forest stopover habitats in an urban landscape. Condor. vol 107, no 2. p. 259-268.
 * Sabo SR. (1980). Niche and Habitat Relations in Subalpine Bird Communities of the White Mountains of New-Hampshire USA. Ecological Monographs. vol 50, no 2. p. 241-260.
 * Sabo SR & Whittaker RH. (1979). Bird Niches in a Subalpine Forest an Indirect Ordination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. vol 76, no 3. p. 1338-1342.
 * Santner S. (1992). Nashville warbler Vermivora ruficapilla. Brauning, D. vol W, p. Atlas of breeding birds in Pennsylvania.
 * Schulte LA & Niemi GJ. (1998). Bird communities of early-successional burned and logged forest. Journal of Wildlife Management. vol 62, no 4. p. 1418-1429.
 * Sodhi NS & Paszkowski CA. (1995). Habitat use and foraging behavior of four parulid warblers in a second-growth forest. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol 66, no 2. p. 277-288.
 * Spicer GS. (1977). 2 New Nasal Mites of the Genus Ptilonyssus Mesostigmata Rhinonyssidae from Texas USA. Acarologia. vol 18, no 4. p. 594-601.
 * Stewart PA. (1986). Fall Migration of Twelve Species of Wood Warblers through Coastal Virginia USA. North American Bird Bander. vol 11, no 3. p. 83-88.
 * Torgersen TR & Mason RE. (1987). Predation on Egg Masses of the Douglas-Fir Tussock Moth Lepidoptera Lymantriidae. Environmental Entomology. vol 16, no 1. p. 90-93.
 * Van Buskirk JJ. (1984). Vocal Mimicry of Nashville Warblers Vermivora-Ruficapilla by Yellow-Rumped Warblers Dendroica-Coronata. Wilson Bulletin. vol 96, no 3. p. 477-482.
 * Vera CJ & Servello FA. (1994). Effects of paper mill sludge in spruce-fir forests on wildlife in Maine. Journal of Wildlife Management. vol 58, no 4. p. 719-727.
 * Winker K, Arriaga Weiss S, Trejo P JL & Escalante P P. (1999). Notes on the avifauna of Tabasco. Wilson Bulletin. vol 111, no 2. p. 229-235.