16-mile Lake, Cariboo, August 28. Alberta--Glenevis, September 13.
Montana--Fortine, September 11. Wyoming--Laramie, October 5.
Saskatchewan--Wiseton, September 29. Manitoba--Aweme, October 3. North
Dakota--Fargo, October 8. South Dakota--Arlington, October 8.
Nebraska--Lincoln, October 14. Kansas--Lawrence, October 22.
Oklahoma--Fort Sill, October 19. Minnesota--Hutchinson, October 11.
Wisconsin--Madison, October 19. Iowa--National, October 17.
Missouri--St. Louis, October 19. Michigan--Ann Arbor, October 30.
Ontario--Port Dover, October 10. Ohio--Columbus, October 31.
Illinois--Evanston, October 28. Tennessee--Nashville, October 23.
Arkansas--Jonesboro, October 19. Louisiana--New Orleans, November 8.
Mississippi--Gulfport, November 12. Quebec--Montreal, September 28.
Vermont--Wells River, September 29. Massachusetts--Harvard, October 1.
New York--Rhinebeck, October 14. Pennsylvania--Beaver, October 26.
District of Columbia--Washington, October 22. North Carolina--Mount
Mitchell, October 1. Georgia--Dalton, October 30, Alabama--Birmingham,
October 25. Florida--Pensacola, November 4. Cuba--Habana, November 10.
Early dates of fall arrival are: Wyoming--Laramie, August 28.
South Dakota--Lennox, August 30. Kansas--Topeka, August 29.
Wisconsin--Delavan, August 19. Illinois--Glen Ellyn, August 17.
Missouri--Monteer, August 20. Ohio--Toledo, August 19.
Tennessee--Knoxville, September 15. Arkansas--Hot Springs,
September 19. Louisiana--Monroe, September 14. Mississippi--Gulfport,
September 5. Vermont--Woodstock, August 22. Massachusetts--Lexington,
August 11. Pennsylvania--Jeffersonville, August 27. District of
Columbia--Washington, August 31. Virginia--Salem, August 23. North
Carolina--Blowing Rock, September 1. Georgia--Atlanta, September 9.
Alabama--Leighton, September 17. Florida--Fort Myers, September 20.
Cuba--Habana, October 13. Guatemala--Huehuetenango, September 11.
Nicaragua--Río Escondido, October 24. Costa Rica--San José, September
17. Panamá--New Culebra, October 24. Colombia--Santa Marta Region,
October 14.
_Casual records._--In 1898 an adult male of this species was found dead
at Narssag, Greenland. In Bermuda one was seen on March 2, 1914, and it
remained about six weeks.
_Egg dates._--Alberta: 6 records, June 1 to 16.
New Brunswick: 82 records, June 10 to July 10; 46 records, June 17 to
26, indicating the height of the season.
Quebec: 30 records, June 8 to 29; 21 records, June 17 to 27.
VERMIVORA CELATA CELATA (Say)
EASTERN ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
HABITS
The type race of the orange-crowned warbler makes its summer home in
northwestern Canada and Alaska, from northern Manitoba to the Kowak
River, migrating in the fall southeastward through the United States to
its winter range in the southern Atlantic States and Gulf States, from
South Carolina and Florida to Louisiana. It was discovered and named by
Say (1823) early in May at Engineer Cantonment, on the Missouri River,
while on its northward migration.
The main migration route is through the Mississippi Valley,
northwestward in the spring and southeastward in the fall. It is very
rare in spring in the northern Atlantic States, though there are a few
records for even Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but there are many fall
records for this region, some of them remarkably late. It seems to be
rare at either season in Ohio; Milton B. Trautman (1940) gives only 10
records for Buckeye Lake, 5 in spring and 5 in fall. "Eight were noted
in lowlands, within 10 feet of the ground, in dense tangles of
blackberry bushes, rosebushes, or grapevines. The remaining 2, both fall
birds, were in rather well-drained, brushy, and weedy fields."
Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says of its status in Alaska:
Throughout the wooded region of Northern Alaska, from the British
boundary line west to the shores of Bering Sea, and from the Alaskan
range of mountains north within the Arctic Circle as far as the
tree-limit, this species is a rather common summer resident. It is known
along the shores of Bering Sea and Kotzebue Sound mainly as an autumn
migrant, as it straggles to the southward at the end of the breeding
season. Wherever bushes occur along the northern coast of the Territory
it is found at this season, and at Saint Michaels it was a common bird
each summer from the last of July up to about the middle of August,
after which it became rare and soon disappeared. I have never noted it
on the seacoast during the spring migration.
The Prebles (1908) found it well distributed and probably breeding
throughout the Athabaska-Mackenzie region. MacFarlane (1908) found it
breeding as far north as the Anderson River. Kennicott, according to
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874), found it nesting about Great Slave
Lake. And Ernest Thompson Seton (1891) reported it as a common summer
resident and breeding near Carberry, Manitoba.
_Nesting._--Herbert Brandt (1943) found two nests of the eastern
orange-crowned warbler along the Yukon River in Alaska, about 20 miles
up from the sea, on July 1, 1924. His first nest contained five eggs,
advanced in incubation. The nest was near the bank of the river, "in a
bush 18 inches from the ground. The nest was loosely made of coarse
grass held together with bark strips, silvery plant down, and a few
feathers, one of which was a mottled feather of the Northern Varied
Thrush. Twenty feet away was another nest of the same species, which
held three young just hatched and two pipped eggs. * * * The
measurements of the two nests cited are: height, 2.25 to 3.00; outside
diameter, 3.5; inside diameter, 1.75; and depth of cup, 1.50 to 1.75
inches."
MacFarlane's (1908) nests, found on the Anderson River, "held from four
to six eggs each, and they were made of hay or grasses lined with deer
hair, feathers and finer grasses, and were usually placed in a shallow
cavity on the ground in the shade of a clump of dwarf willow or Labrador
tea."
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) write:
The nests of this species, seen by Mr. Kennicott, were uniformly on the
ground, generally among clumps of low bushes, often in the side of a
bank, and usually hidden by the dry leaves among which they were placed.
He met with these nests in the middle of June in the vicinity of Great
Slave Lake. They were large for the size of the bird, having an external
diameter of four inches, and a height of two and a half, and appearing
as if made of two or three distinct fabrics, one within the other, of
nearly the same materials. The external portions of these nests were
composed almost entirely of long, coarse strips of bark loosely
interwoven with a few dry grasses and stems of plants. Within it is a
more elaborately interwoven structure of finer dry grasses and mosses.
These are softly and warmly lined with hair and fur of small animals.
E. A. Preble (1908) reported a nest found near Fort Resolution that "was
placed among thick grass on a sloping bank, and was composed outwardly
of grass and _Equisetum_ stems, with a layer of finer grass and with an
inner lining of hair."
Several nests have been reported from points farther south as being of
this warbler, but these are probably all referable to the Rocky Mountain
subspecies _Vermivora celata orestera_.
_Eggs._--The orange-crowned warbler lays from 4 to 6 eggs to a set,
probably most often 5. Dr. Brandt (1943) describes his Alaska eggs as
follows: "The egg is short ovate in outline, the surface moderately
glossy, and the shell delicate. The ground color is white and is
prominent because the markings obscure but one-fifth of its area. These
spots are very small, and are peppered over the broad end in an
ill-defined wreath, while over the smaller two-thirds the egg is almost
immaculate. In color the markings range from hydrangea red to ocher red;
and underlying these are a few weak spots of deep dull lavender."
Probably a series of the eggs would show all the variations shown in
eggs of the other races. The measurements of 50 eggs, including those of
the Rocky Mountain race, average 16.2 by 12.7 millimeters; the eggs
showing the four extremes measure =18.3= by 13.2, 17.0 by =14.2=, and
=14.7= by =12.2= millimeters (Harris).
_Plumages._--Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the juvenal plumage as "above,
brownish olive-green. Wings and tail olive-brown, broadly edged with
bright olive-green, the median and greater coverts tipped with buff.
Below, greenish buff paler and yellower on abdomen and crissum. Lores
and auriculars grayish buff."
The first winter plumage is acquired by a postjuvenal molt that involves
the contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings
or the tail. The sexes are alike in the juvenal plumage and much alike
in all plumages, except that the female is always duller; in her first
winter plumage the orange crown is lacking, and it is more or less
suppressed and sometimes wholly lacking in subsequent plumages. Dr.
Dwight (1900) describes the young male in first winter plumage as
"above, bright olive-green, mostly concealed on the pileum and nape with
pale mouse-gray edgings that blend into the green. The crown brownish
orange concealed by greenish feather tips. Wing coverts broadly edged
with dull olive-green, sometimes the greater coverts with faint whitish
tips. Below, pale olive-yellow, grayish on the chin and sides of neck
with very indistinct olive-gray streaking. A dusky anteorbital spot.
Lores, orbital ring and indistinct superciliary stripe mouse-gray."
The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a partial prenuptial molt,
"which involves chiefly the anterior part of the head and the chin. A
richer, half concealed, orange crown patch is acquired; the lores and
adjacent parts become grayer, the anteorbital spot darker. Wear makes
birds greener above and slightly yellower below. Young and old become
practically indistinguishable."
Subsequent molts consist of a complete postnuptial molt in summer and a
partial prenuptial molt in early spring, as described above. The adult
winter plumage "differs chiefly from first winter dress in possessing a
larger, more distinct crown patch," in the male, and more or less of it
in the female. "The color below is uniform and paler."
_Food._--Nothing seems to be known about the summer food of the
orange-crowned warbler, but it probably does not differ greatly from
that of the lutescent warbler, whose food has been more thoroughly
studied. In winter, it probably eats a fair proportion of berries and
other fruits, especially when it spends the winter somewhat farther
north than insects are to be found in abundance. It has also been known
to come to a feeding station and eat suet, peanut butter, and doughnuts.
In summer, it is probably almost wholly insectivorous. I can find no
evidence that it does any damage to grapes or other cultivated fruits on
its fall migration.
_Voice._--Ernest Thompson Seton (1891) says of an orange-crowned warbler
that he shot in Manitoba on May 12, 1883: "It was flitting about with
great activity among the poplar catkins, and, from time to time,
uttering a loud song like '_chip-e chip-e chip-e chip-e chip-e_.' On May
141 shot another Orange-crowned Warbler. Its song is much like that of
the Chipping Sparrow, but more musical and in a higher key. The bird is
extremely restless and lively, moving about continually among the
topmost twigs of the trees and uttering its little ditty about once in
every half minute."
Dr. Lynds Jones wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907): "The song is full and
strong, not very high pitched, and ends abruptly on a rising scale. My
note book renders it _chee chee chee chw' chw'_. The first three
syllables rapidly uttered, the last two more slowly. One heard late in
the season sang more nearly like Mr. Thompson's description: _chip-e,
chip-e, chip-e, chip-e, chip-e_, but with the first vowel changed to
_e_, thus eliminating what would appear to be a marked similarity
to the song of Chippy. Even in this song the ending is retained."
Francis H. Allen tells me that this warbler "has a _chip_ note
suggesting that of the tree sparrow but sharper."
_Field marks._--The orange-crowned warbler is a plain bird, with
practically no white markings in wings or tail, clad in dusky
olive-green, paler below, the underparts sometimes obscurely streaked
with olive-gray. The brownish orange crown patch is usually not
conspicuous, except in worn summer plumage, and lacking in young birds
and some females.
_Fall._--Orange-crowned warblers begin to leave northern Alaska in
August. Dr. Nelson (1887) says that it is rare about St. Michael after
the middle of the month, his latest date being August 24. The birds
obtained at that season were mainly young of the year. "In fall this
species frequents the vicinity of dwellings and native villages, where
it searches the crevices of the fences and log houses for insects."
The southeastward migration through central Canada and the United States
seems to be leisurely and quite prolonged, mainly in September and early
October, but often continuing into November. In Massachusetts, there are
numerous late fall records and some winter records. Horace W. Wright
(1917) has published an extensive paper on this subject and has
collected the following Massachusetts records: "Mr. Brewster's eleven
records lie within the period of autumn from September 23 to November
28. There are three for September, namely, the 23rd and the 30th twice;
none for October; and eight for November, namely, 7th, 9th, 10th, 17th,
20th-21st, 23rd-24th, 25th, and 28th. On two occasions two birds were
present, November 9 and 28. My own records run later. The earliest is
November 5, and the latest is January 23. They are November 5, 18, 20,
22, 28, 29, January 10, 19, 23." As Mr. Wright's records cover a
period of 8 years ending with January 1916, they indicate that the
orange-crowned warbler is not such a rare straggler in Massachusetts as
is generally supposed, and may be looked for almost any year in late
fall, or even winter. Mr. Forbush (1929) says of its occurrence there:
This warbler may be found almost anywhere in New England during the fall
migration wherever there are trees and shrubbery. In my experience the
bird has been either in the trees or in the tops of rather tall shrubs
and never very high, but like other members of the genus, though it
nests on the ground it is said to spend considerable time in the upper
parts of trees. It seems fond of the edges of woodlands near water, but
it also frequents open woods, orchards, fruit gardens and shade trees,
where amid the foliage it is very seldom noticed by the ordinary
observer. When approached it divides its attention between the observer
and its insect prey, which it hunts assiduously in the manner of others
of the genus. This warbler may be seen rarely in small companies, but
more often singly or in company with a small group of warblers of other
species.
Dr. Winsor M. Tyler contributes the following: "The orange-crowned
warbler is a rare bird in New England, but we may look for it with some
hope of success in the very late autumn, through November and even into
December, during the soft, calm days of Indian Summer. As we walk along
over the dead leaves, wet from last night's frost, watching for the bird
in the shrubs by the roadside and in neglected pastures, almost the
only sound is the ticking of the falling leaves as they hit against the
branches; and mistiness is all about us. Several seasons may pass before
we hear its sharp _chip_, which stands out clearly from the gentle voice
of the late-lingering myrtle warblers, and see it flitting all alone
among the twigs, or on the ground--a lonely, dark, obscure little bird,
darker and more deliberate than the kinglets. It is strange that a
_Vermivora_ should linger here with winter so near at hand, but indeed
there is evidence which leads us to believe that a few of these warblers
may attempt to spend the winter in the southern part of this region, and
should any one of them withstand the cold season, it may furnish, when
it moves northwards towards its breeding ground, one of the exceedingly
rare instances of the occurrence of the bird on the northern Atlantic
coast in spring."
_Winter._--The principal winter home of the orange-crowned warbler seems
to be in the southern Atlantic and Gulf States. Of its occurrence in
coastal South Carolina, Arthur T. Wayne (1910) writes:
My earliest date for its arrival is October 30, 1897, but it is never
abundant until the middle of November, remaining until the second week
in April. It is capable of enduring intense cold. I have seen numbers of
these highly interesting birds near Charleston when the thermometer
ranged as low as 8° above zero and it is always more active and hence
oftener seen when the weather is cold and cloudy.
The Orange-crowned Warbler inhabits thickets of lavender and myrtle
bushes as well as oak scrub, and its center of abundance is on the coast
islands, the greater part of which is veritable jungle, in which it
particularly delights. Its only note while it sojourns here is a _chip_
or _cheep_ which very closely resembles the note of the Field Sparrow in
winter.
Dr. Chapman (1907) says: "During the winter I have found the
Orange-crowned Warbler a not uncommon inhabitant of the live-oaks in
middle Florida where its sharp _chip_ soon becomes recognizable. In
Mississippi, at this season, Allison (MS.) says that 'its favorite
haunts are usually wooded yards or parks, where the evergreen live oak
and magnolia can be found; I have seen it most commonly among the small
trees on the border of rich mixed woods, above an undergrowth of switch
cane. Coniferous trees it seems not to care for, though I have seen it
in the cypress swamps.'"
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--From Alaska and northern Canada to Guatemala.
_Breeding range._--The orange-crowned warbler breeds =north= to
north-central Alaska (Kobuk River and Fort Yukon; a specimen has been
collected near Point Barrow); northern and western Mackenzie (Fort
McPherson, Fort Anderson, Lake Hardisty, and Hill Island Lake); northern
Saskatchewan (near Sand Point, Lake Athabaska); northeastern Manitoba
(Churchill and York Factory); and casually to northwestern Quebec
(Richmond Gulf). =East= to eastern and southern Manitoba (York Factory,
Winnipeg, and Aweme); southwestern Saskatchewan (East End and the
Cypress Hills); southeastern Alberta (Medicine Hat); western Montana
(Great Falls, Belt, and Bozeman); northwestern and southeastern Wyoming
(Yellowstone Park and Laramie); central Colorado (Denver, Colorado
Springs, Wet Mountains, and Fort Garland); central New Mexico (Taos
Mountains and Willis); and southwestern Texas (Guadalupe Mountains).
=South= to southwestern Texas (Guadalupe Mountains); south-central New
Mexico (Capitan Mountains); southeastern and northwestern Arizona
(Tucson, Santa Catalina Mountains, and north rim of the Grand Canyon);
southern Nevada (St. Thomas); and southern California (Panamint
Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, Coronado
Beach, and San Clemente Island). =West= to the Pacific coast of
California (San Clemente and Santa Rosa Islands, Santa Barbara, San
Francisco, and Eureka); Oregon (Coos Bay and Tillamook); Washington
(Cape Disappointment, Stevens Prairie, and Neah Bay); British Columbia
(Nootka Sound and the Queen Charlotte Islands); and Alaska (Sitka,
Yakutat, Nushegak, Igiak Bay, St. Michael, and the Kobuk River).
The orange-crowned warbler has been recorded in migration in southern
Quebec as far east as Metamek and may occasionally breed. There is a
single breeding record for Minnesota at Cambridge.
_Winter range._--The orange-crowned warbler winters =north= to
northwestern Washington (Seattle); central California (Marysville,
Bigtrees, Atwater, and Victorville); southern Nevada (near Searchlight);
central and southeastern Arizona (Fort Verde, Phoenix, and Tucson);
southern Texas (El Paso, Fort Clark, and Boerne); Louisiana (Monroe);
rarely Tennessee (Memphis); central Georgia (Macon and Augusta); and
southern South Carolina (Charleston). It has also occurred occasionally
in winter as far north as Madison, Wis.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Canandaigua,
N. Y.; and Boston, Mass. =East= to South Carolina (Charleston); Georgia
(Savannah); and Florida (Jacksonville, Coconut Grove, and Royal Palm
Hammock). =South= to southern Florida (Royal Palm Hammock); the Gulf
coast of Florida (Ozona, Wakulla Beach, and Pensacola); Mississippi
(Biloxi); Louisiana (New Orleans); Texas (Rockport, Corpus Christi, and
Brownsville); Tamaulipas (Altamira); Veracruz (Orizaba); and Guatemala
(Chimuy and Tecpán). =West= to western Guatemala (Tecpán and Nenton);
Guerrero (Chilpancingo and Coyuca); Colima (Manzillo); Jalisco
(Mazatlán); Baja California (Cape San Lucas and Santa Margarita Island);
the Pacific coast of California (San Clemente and Santa Cruz Islands,
Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Eureka); western Oregon (Eugene); and
northwestern Washington (Tacoma and Seattle).
The above ranges apply to the species as a whole, of which four
subspecies or geographic races are recognized: the eastern
orange-crowned warbler (_V. c. celata_) breeds from northern Alaska,
northern Mackenzie and northern Manitoba south to central Alaska,
northern Alberta, and Saskatchewan to southern Manitoba; the Rocky
Mountain orange-crowned warbler (_V. c. orestera_) breeds from northern
British Columbia, central Alberta, and southwestern Saskatchewan
southward east of the Cascades and Sierra Nevadas; the lutescent
orange-crowned warbler (_V. c. lutescens_) breeds in the Pacific coast
region from Cook Inlet, Alaska, south to southern California and
eastward in California to the west slope of the Sierra Nevadas; the
dusky orange-crowned warbler (_V. c. sordida_) is resident on the
southern coastal islands of California and locally on the adjacent
mainland.
_Migration._--The orange-crowned warbler is of rare occurrence in the
northeastern United States where it is reported more often in fall than
in spring.
Early dates of spring arrival are: Pennsylvania--Harrisburg, April 21.
New York--Rochester, April 27. Tennessee--Memphis, April 5.
Kentucky--Bowling Green, April 23. Ohio--Oberlin, April 14.
Michigan--Ann Arbor, April 26. Ontario--Queensborough, April 26.
Missouri--Columbia, April 20. Iowa--Sioux City, April 24.
Wisconsin--Madison, April 19. Minnesota--Red Wing, April 19.
Kansas--Lake Quivira, April 18. Nebraska--Fairbury, April 16. South
Dakota--Arlington, April 22. North Dakota--Fargo, April 22.
Manitoba--Winnipeg, April 25. Saskatchewan--East End, May 2.
Mackenzie--Simpson, May 21. New Mexico--Carlisle, April 28.
Colorado--Colorado Springs, April 27. Wyoming--Laramie, April 21.
Montana--Fortine, April 28. Alberta--Glenevis, April 28.
Oregon--Portland, March 26. Washington--Bellingham, March 2. British
Columbia--Courtney, March 24. Yukon--Carcross, April 26.
Alaska--Ketchikan, April 26; Tanana Crossing, May 18.
Late dates of spring departure of migrants are: Florida--Pensacola,
April 20. Georgia--Atlanta, April 29. South Carolina--Aiken, May 3.
North Carolina--Hendersonville, May 9. West Virginia--Wheeling, May 12.
New York--Canandaigua, May 27. Louisiana--New Orleans, April 3.
Mississippi--Biloxi, April 21. Tennessee--Knoxville, April 25.
Ohio--Austinburg, May 30. Ontario--Ottawa, May 28. Missouri--St.
Louis, May 8. Iowa--Des Moines, June 6. Wisconsin--Racine, May 24.
Michigan--Sault Ste. Marie, June 3. Minnesota--Rochester, May 28.
Texas--Lytle, May 19. Oklahoma--Copan, May 2. Kansas--Onaga, May 22.
Nebraska--Neligh, May 13. South Dakota--Faulkton, June 1. North
Dakota--Fargo, June 6.