July, when it ceases for a time. It is usually revived in late July or
early August, and from then on may be heard fairly frequently until the
birds depart about the last of August."
In his notes sent to Dr. Chapman, Burns describes the song as, "a
drowsy, locust-like, _swe-e-e-e-e ze-e-e-e-e_, the first apparently
inhaled and the last exhaled. * * * Another song heard on the first day
of arrival, on one occasion, uttered by several males in company,
possibly transients here, and may be the mating song, suggests the
Chickadee's _che-de-de-e_, _che-dee-e_, and _che-de-de-dee_, uttered
repeatedly in one form or other in excitement, and while running out on
the branchlets. The call and alarm note is a rather weak _chip_." Dr.
Chapman (1912) records a longer song, heard later in the season as
"_w[=e][=e]-ch[)i]-ch[)i]-ch[)i]-ch[)i], ch[=u]r, ch[=e][=e]-ch[=u]r._"
Francis H. Allen tells me that the final note, _ze-e-e-e-e_, as rendered
by Burns, "is really a very rapid series of _pips_, as if the bird had
lips like ours and vibrated them by forcing the air through them--in
other words, giving a sort of avian Bronx cheer, but high in pitch. The
individual pip notes are clear, but the effect of the rapid succession
is somewhat buzzy."
The songs of the hybrid forms may be like the song of either parent
form, more often like that of the goldenwing, or a mixture of the two.
The flight song, as heard by Frank A. Pitelka, is recorded as follows:
_tsee-_
_zweé-_ _zweé_
_tzip-_ _tzip-_
_zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-_ _zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-_
The song of the blue-winged warbler is one of the high-frequency songs;
Albert E. Brand (1938) gives the approximate mean as 7,675, the highest
note about 8,050 and the lowest note about 7,125 vibrations per second;
this compares with an approximate mean for the black-poll warbler of
8,900 vibrations per second, the highest frequency of any of the wood
warblers, and an average for all passerine birds of about 4,000
vibrations per second.
_Field marks._--A small warbler with a greenish olive back, yellow
forehead and under parts, with a black line through the eye and two
white wing bars, is a blue-winged warbler. The female is merely more
dull in coloration than the male, and the young even duller. The
hybrids between this and the golden-winged warbler are more puzzling,
but in a general way they can be recognized; a nearly typical blue-winged
warbler with a black throat is probably a Lawrence's warbler; and a
golden-winged warbler without a black throat or cheek and with a
variable amount of white and yellow on the under parts and in the
wing-bars, is probably a Brewster's warbler. But there is an immense
amount of individual variation between the two species, due to frequent
crossing.
_Fall._--Most of the blue-winged warblers move southward during August
and September, though a few may linger in the southern part of the
breeding range into October. Professor Cooke (1904) says: "Most of the
individuals of the species migrate across the Gulf of Mexico, apparently
avoiding Florida on the east and Texas and Vera Cruz on the west, as
there is no record of the occurrence of this warbler in fall in Texas,
and but one in Florida--that of a bird taken at Key West August 30,
1887." But this remains to be proved.
Alexander F. Skutch writes to me: "This is another very rare migrant in
Central America. It has been recorded only a few times in Guatemala and
apparently not at all in Costa Rica. I have seen it only once, on the
Finca Mocá, Guatemala, on October 30, 1934."
Very little seems to be known about its winter distribution and still
less about its winter habits.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Eastern United States to Panamá.
_Breeding range._--The blue-winged warbler breeds =north= to
southeastern Minnesota (Lanesboro); southern Wisconsin (Mazomanie,
Prairie du Sac, and Glarus); northeastern Illinois (Rockford, Deerfield,
and La Grange); southern Michigan (possibly Hastings, and Ann Arbor);
northern Ohio (Toledo, Lakeside, Cleveland, and Austinburg); southern
Pennsylvania (Carlisle); southern New York (Ossining and Whaley Lake);
and Massachusetts (Springfield and Sudbury). =East= to eastern
Massachusetts (Sudbury and Lexington); Connecticut (Westfield and
Saybrook); Long Island (Mastic and Oyster Bay); New Jersey (Demarest,
Morristown, and Elizabeth); southeastern Pennsylvania (Tinicum and
Berwyn); probably occasionally in northern Maryland (Cecil County and
Sabillasville); eastern and central Ohio (Canfield and Columbus);
east-central Kentucky (Berea); central Tennessee (Nashville and Fall
Creek); and central northern Georgia (Young Harris). =South= to northern
Georgia (Young Harris, Margret, and Atlanta); northeastern Alabama (Long
Island); central Tennessee (Wildersville); and northwestern Arkansas
(Pettigrew and Winslow). =West= to northwestern Arkansas (Winslow and
Fayetteville); west-central Iowa (Warrensburg); eastern Iowa (Lacey,
Grinnell, Winthrop, and McGregor); and southeastern Minnesota
(Lanesboro). The blue-winged warbler has occurred in summer west to
eastern Kansas (Emporia and Leavenworth); central-southern and eastern
Nebraska (Red Cloud, Plattsmouth, and Omaha); western Iowa (Sioux City);
and north to Minnesota (Minneapolis); southern Ontario (Point Pelee,
Strathroy, and West Lake); central New York (Penn Yan and Auburn); and
southern New Hampshire (Manchester).
_Winter range._--The principal winter home of the blue-winged warbler
seems to be in Guatemala, though it has been recorded in winter from the
Valley of Mexico; Puebla (Metlatoyuca); Veracruz (Tres Zapotes); to
eastern Nicaragua (Río Escondido and Greytown). There is one winter
record each from Costa Rica (Bonilla), Panamá (Port Antonio), and
Colombia (Santa Marta Region).
On January 6, 1900, a dead blue-winged warbler (apparently dead from
starvation) was picked up in Bronx Park, New York. It had only recently
died and in all probability was the bird seen on December 10, in the
same region.
_Migration._--Late dates of spring departure are: Colombia--Santa Marta
Region, March 21. Veracruz--Jalapa, April 7. Florida--Pensacola, April
25. Alabama--Guntersville, May 2. District of Columbia--Washington, May
30. Louisiana--Monroe, April 27. Texas--San Antonio, May 12.
Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida--Pensacola, April 4.
Alabama--Shelby, April 4. Georgia--Atlanta, March 26. North
Carolina--Arden, April 18. District of Columbia--Washington, April 23.
West Virginia--Wheeling, April 23. Pennsylvania--Germantown, April 25.
New York--Yonkers, April 26. Massachusetts--Lexington, May 6.
Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, March 13. Louisiana--New Orleans, March 23.
Arkansas--Winslow, April 2. Tennessee--Nashville, April 7.
Kentucky--Eubank, April 10. Illinois--Springfield, April 29.
Ohio--Columbus, April 22. Michigan--Ann Arbor, May 1. Missouri--St.
Louis, April 17. Iowa--Grinnell, April 28. Wisconsin--Reedsburg, April
30. Minnesota--Lanesboro, May 7. Texas--Cove, March 27. Kansas--Onaga,
April 26.
Late dates of fall departure are: Minnesota--Lanesboro, September 1.
Wisconsin--Elkhorn, September 19. Iowa--Giard, September 20.
Missouri--Monteer, September 17. Arkansas--Winslow, September 18.
Louisiana--Monroe, October 7. Michigan--Jackson, September 13.
Ohio--Oberlin, September 27. Indiana---Bloomington, September 28.
Illinois--Chicago, September 29. Kentucky--Bowling Green, October 5.
Tennessee--Memphis, September 11. Mississippi--Deer Island, October 13.
Massachusetts--Belmont, September 6. New York--New York City, September
25. Pennsylvania---Jeffersonville, September 19. District of Columbia,
Washington, September 14. West Virginia--French Creek, September 28.
North Carolina--Reidsville, September 26. South Carolina--Huger,
September 10. Georgia--Tifton, September 27. Florida--St. Marks,
October 9.
Early dates of fall arrival are: District of Columbia--Washington,
August 13. Georgia--Columbus, July 28. Alabama--Leighton, August 8.
Florida--Key West, August 30. Mississippi--Gulfport, August 23.
Texas--Cove, July 29. Tamaulipas--Matamoros, August 25. Costa
Rica--Bonilla, September 8.
_Banding._--Few blue-winged warblers have been banded and recovered. A
bird banded at Elmhurst, Long Island, on August 17, 1935, flew into a
screened porch at Westbury, Long Island, on May 7, 1937. The two places
are about 15 miles apart.
_Egg dates._--Connecticut: 30 records, May 25 to June 24; 20 records,
May 29 to June 6, indicating the height of the season.
New Jersey: 40 records, May 16 to June 19; 29 records, May 22 to 30.
Pennsylvania: 27 records, May 28 to July 7; 14 records, May 28 to June 3
(Harris).
VERMIVORA BACHMANII (Audubon)
BACHMAN'S WARBLER
CONTRIBUTED BY EDWARD VON SIEBOLD DINGLE
HABITS
Bachman's warbler was discovered by Dr. John Bachman a few miles from
Charleston, S. C., in July, 1833. According to Audubon (1841), who
described and named in honor of his "amiable friend" the only two
specimens taken, several other birds were seen soon after in the same
locality.
More than half a century passed before the bird again appeared in
America, this time in Louisiana. Charles S. Galbraith (1888), while
securing specimens of warblers at Lake Pontchartrain for the millinery
trade in the spring of 1886, took a single bird; in the two succeeding
years he collected a number of additional specimens, 6 in 1887 and 31 in
1888. These birds were evidently migrating, for the 31 were all taken
between March 2 and 20, and none could be found after the end of March.
Chapman (1907) comments on Galbraith's first specimen: "This specimen,
now in the American Museum of Natural History, is prepared for a
hat-piece. The feet are missing, the wings are stiffly distended, the
head bent backward in typical bonnet pose, and, had it not been for an
interest in ornithology which led Galbraith to take his unknown birds to
Mr. Lawrence for identification, this _rara avis_ might have become an
unappreciated victim on Fashion's altar."
Since then the records have multiplied; but _bachmanii_ has always been
an extremely local species, even in migrations, and breeds in primeval
swamps in small colonies, which are few and far between. At the present
writing, the bird is one of the very rarest of North American warblers.
It has been an unattained ideal to the writer; yet, having heard much
about its habits from the late Arthur T. Wayne and having visited with
him the former breeding grounds, he has some consolation for not having
met it in life.
Wayne (1901) took a specimen of this species on May 15, 1901, near Mount
Pleasant, which was the first record for South Carolina since Dr.
Bachman collected the type, and says: "I am positive that I have heard
this song nearly every summer in the same localities where the male was
found, but I always keep out of such places after April 10 on account of
the myriads of ticks and red bugs which infest them. Then, too, such
places are simply impenetrable on account of the dense blackberry vines,
matted with grape vines, fallen logs piled one upon another, and a dense
growth of low bushes."
_Spring._--From its winter home in Cuba Bachman's warbler enters the
United States through Florida, and according to Howell (1932) the
earliest date of arrival in that state is February 27. It has also been
recorded from Louisiana on the same date (Chapman, 1907). The majority
of individuals, however, cross to the United States mainland early in
March; apparently the birds that summer in Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas,
and Kentucky reach their breeding grounds by skirting the Gulf coast and
continuing up the Mississippi Valley. They reach the vicinity of
Charleston, S. C., in March and nesting begins at once, for Wayne (1907)
found a nest on March 27 containing one egg and another on April 3
with five well-incubated eggs. He calls attention to the fact that
Bachman's warbler therefore breeds earlier than the resident pine
and yellow-throated warblers.
_Nesting._--Dr. Bachman did not discover the breeding grounds of this
warbler, and it was more than 60 years before the first nests and eggs
became known to science; Widmann (1897) found the bird breeding in the
St. Francis River country of Missouri and Arkansas on May 13, 1897. The
nesting area extended "over two acres of blackberry brambles among a
medley of half-decayed and lately-felled tree-tops, lying in pools of
water, everything dripping wet with dew in the forenoon, and steaming
under a broiling sun in the afternoon." The first nest, which he
describes as being 2 feet from the ground, "was made of leaves and grass
blades, lined with a peculiar black rootlet; it was tied very slightly
to a vertical blackberry vine of fresh growth and rested lightly on
another, which crossed the former at a nearly right angle. From above it
was entirely hidden by branchlets of latest growth, and the hand could
not have been inserted without at first cutting several vines, overlying
it in different directions."
Ridgway (1897) describes this nest as, "a somewhat compressed compact
mass composed externally of dried weed- and grass-stalks and dead
leaves, many of the latter partially skeletonized; internally composed
of rather fine weed- and grass-stalks, lined with black fibres,
apparently dead threads of the black pendant lichens (_Ramalina_,
species?) which hang in beard-like tufts from button-bushes
(_Cephalanthus_) and other shrubs growing in wetter portions of the
western bottom-lands. The height of the nest is about 3-1/2 inches; its
greatest breadth is about 4 inches, its width in the opposite direction
being about 3 inches. The cavity is about 1-1/2 inches deep and
1-1/2 × 2 inches wide."
In 1906, Wayne (1907) found six nests of Bachman's warbler near
Charleston, S. C., from two of which the young had flown. "The swamp in
which this warbler breeds is heavily timbered and subjected to overflow
from rains and reservoirs. The trees are chiefly of a deciduous
character, such as the cypress, black gum, sweet gum, tupelo, hickory,
dogwood, and red oak. In the higher parts of the swamp short-leaf pines,
water oaks, live oaks, and magnolias abound. The undergrowth is chiefly
cane, aquatic bushes, and swamp palmetto, while patches of blackberry
brambles and thorny vines are met with at almost every step." The first
two nests, found on April 17, are described as follows:
The first nest was placed upon a dead palmetto leaf, being supported by
a small aquatic bush, and was completely hidden by a living palmetto
leaf which overhung the nest, like an umbrella. It was in a dense swamp,
two feet above the ground, and contained four pure white eggs, almost
ready to be hatched.
The second nest, which was within one hundred yards of the first one,
was built in a bunch of canes (_Arundinaria tecta_), and supported by a
palmetto leaf. This nest was three feet above the ground, in a
comparatively dry situation, and contained four pure white eggs in an
advanced stage of incubation. * * *
The two nests are similar, being constructed of fine grass, cane leaves,
and other leaves, the latter skeletonized. The second nest, taken April
17, is 6-1/2 inches high, 6 inches wide, 2 inches wide at rim, and 2
inches deep. It is composed almost entirely of dead cane leaves, a
little Spanish moss (_Tillandsia usneoides_), and a few skeletonized
leaves. * * *
The female is a very close sitter; indeed so close that I found it
necessary to touch her before she would leave the nest. This habit was
the same in both females.
The other nests were in low bushes, vines, or canes.
During that same year Embody (1907) discovered Bachman's warbler
breeding in Logan County, Ky., and later Holt (1920) found it nesting in
Autauga County, Ala. The localities in which these birds were breeding
and the locations of the nests were not very different from those
described above by Wayne.
_Eggs._--The egg of Bachman's warbler is ovate and pure white, and
usually glossy. The only spotted egg on record is one of a set described
by Holt (1920) as follows: "The nest contained four eggs, three of them
pure, glossy white, the other with a dozen minute dots of light brown,
mostly about the large end; all were tinted faint salmon pink by the
yolks." Three to five eggs constitute a set; three seem the usual
number, with four a close second, while five are unusual.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: The measurements of 42 eggs average 15.8 by 12.4
millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =16.6= by 12.9,
16.5 by =13.0=, =14.9= by 12.2, and 15.8 by =11.6= millimeters.]
_Plumages._--[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Two young birds, just able to fly from the
nest and taken by Wayne on May 13, are thus described by Brewster
(1905):
The male which is now before me may be described as follows:--Top and
sides of head and fore part of back faded hair brown with a trace of
ashy on the middle of crown; remainder of upper parts dull olive green;
wings and tail (which are fully grown) as in the first winter plumage
excepting that the greater and middle wing-coverts are rather more
broadly tipped with light brown, forming two well-marked wing-bars;
chin and throat brownish white tinged with yellow; sides of jugulum
smoke gray, its center yellowish; sides of breast gamboge yellow shading
into olive on the flanks; middle of breast, with most of abdomen,
yellowish white; under tail-coverts ashy white. All the feathers on the
under parts which are strongly yellow or olive, and those on the upper
parts which are decidedly ashy or greenish, appear to belong to the
autumnal plumage or, as it is now called, the first winter plumage, but
all the other feathers on the head and body are evidently those of the
first plumage. * * *
I have not seen the young female Bachman's Warbler above referred to,
but Mr. Wayne writes me that "It differs from the male only in these
respects: The yellow on the sides of the breast is very much paler and
more restricted and the back is not greenish, but brownish. The white on
the tail-feathers is merely indicated on the margins of the inner webs
of the tail-feathers."
It would appear from the above that there is a sexual difference even in
the juvenal plumage, and that the postjuvenal molt begins before the
middle of May. This molt evidently involves all the contour plumage and
the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings or the tail. The young
male in first winter plumage is similar to the adult male at that
season, but the crown is entirely gray, or with very little black; the
feathers of the black patch on the throat, which is more restricted, are
tipped with yellowish or buffy. There are no specimens available that
indicate a prenuptial molt, which is probably very limited. Young males
in the first nuptial plumage may be recognized by the worn and faded
wings and tail.
The complete postnuptial molt of adults apparently occurs in July or
earlier; I have seen no molting birds, but a large series of August
birds are all in completely fresh winter plumage. In this plumage the
male resembles the spring male, but the black of the crown is widely
tipped with gray and the black of the breast is narrowly tipped with
yellowish; these tips largely wear away before spring, although Wayne
(1910) says that his "breeding males all show the olive yellow edging on
the black feathers." Similar molts and changes take place in the female,
but she has no black in the crown and much less or none at all on the
breast; her colors are duller and she has less white in the tail, as
well as olive-green, instead of yellow, lesser wing coverts.
For a full description of individual variations in plumage, the reader
is referred to Mr. Brewster's (1891) excellent paper.]
_Food._--Very little information is to be found concerning the food of
this warbler, but insects undoubtedly constitute its diet. Howell (1924)
says: "Five stomachs of this species from Alabama contained remains of
caterpillars and a few fragments of Hymenoptera, probably ants."
_Behavior._--Wayne (1907), in writing of this bird on its breeding
grounds, says: "Bachman's Warbler is a high-ranging bird, like the
Yellow-throated Warbler, and generally sings from the top of a sweet
gum or cypress. It appears to have regular singing stations during the
breeding season, and upon leaving a tree it flies a long distance before
alighting. On this account it is impossible to follow the bird through
the dark forest, and it can only be detected by its song. I have
occasionally seen the males in low gall-berry bushes within six or eight
inches of the ground, but their usual resorts are among the topmost
branches of the tallest forest trees."
Brewster (1891) had similar experience with migrating birds in Florida:
Nearly or quite all that has been hitherto written about this Warbler
would lead one to infer that its favorite haunts are dense thickets,
undergrowth, or low trees, and that it seldom ventures to any
considerable height above the ground. Our experience, however, was
directly contrary to this. * * * The bird, moreover, not only frequented
the tops of the tallest trees, but at all times of the day and under
every condition of weather kept at a greater average height than any
other Warbler excepting _Dendroica dominica_. In its marked preference
for cypresses it also resembled the species just named, but unlike it
was never seen in pines. * * *
At the time of our visit the Suwanee bottoms were alive with small birds
many of which were doubtless migrants. They banded together in mixed
flocks often of large size and motley composition. * * * Such a
gathering was nearly certain to contain from one or two to five or six
Bachman's Warblers.
These with the Parulas were most likely to be feeding in the upper
branches of some gigantic cypress, at least one hundred feet above the
earth, where they looked scarcely larger than bumble bees. * * *
The habits and movements of Bachman's Warbler are in some respects
peculiar and characteristic. It does not flit from twig to twig nor
launch out after flying insects in the manner of most Warblers, and many
of its motions are quite as deliberate as those of a Vireo. Alighting
near the end of a branch it creeps or sidles outward along a twig, and
bending forward until the head points nearly straight down, inserts the
bill among the terminal leaflets with a peculiar, slow, listless motion,
keeping it there a second or two, and repeating the leisurely thrust
many times in succession without changing its foothold. The action is
like that of several other members of the genus--notably _H. pinus_ and
_H. chrysoptera_--under similar conditions, and suggests the sucking in
of liquid food, perhaps honey or dew. Not infrequently a bird would hang
back downwards beneath a twig and feed from the under sides of the
leaves in the manner of a Titmouse. * * *
Many of the hackberry trees along the banks of this stream contained
compact bunches--nearly as large as a child's head--of dead leaves
blackened by exposure to wind and weather. These bunches probably
sheltered insects or their larvae, for they attracted several species
of birds, especially the Bachman's Warblers which would work at them
minutes at a time with loud rustling, sometimes burrowing in nearly
out of sight and sending the loosened leaves floating down to the
ground. Upon exhausting the supply of food or becoming tired of the
spot--whether one of the leaf bunches or the extremity of a cypress
branch--the bird almost invariably started on a long flight, often going
hundreds of yards through the woods or crossing the river, instead of
merely passing to the next branch or tree as almost any other Warbler
would have done under similar circumstances. This habit seemed to us
characteristic of the species.
Atkins wrote from Key West (Scott, 1890):