Black-and-white Warbler

Mniotilta varia Linnaeus       Field Guide IDs:
NG-374; G-270; PE-232; PW-pl 50; AE-pl 564; AM(III)-160
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs &
Mating System
Dev. &
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet..
Foraging
Strategy
F
 I: 10 DAYS
 ALTRICIAL
0 - 2 feet
F
5
 (4-5)
 MONOG
F: 8-12 DAYS
 MF
HAWKS

BREEDING:

Deciduous and deciduous-coniferous forests, esp on hillsides and in ravines. ? broods.

DISPLAYS:

Courting male pursues female intermittently over a long period, with much song and display of plumage.

NEST:

Also rarely on platform near ground, concealed under dead leaves or branches; of leaves, coarse grass, etc., lined with fine materials.

EGGS:

White to creamy, flecked over entire surface with brown or markings mostly at large end, occ wreathed. 0.7" (17 mm).

DIET:

In early spring, insects including dormant forms, gleaned nuthatch-like from trunks and limbs.

CONSERVATION:

Winters s through Bahamas, C.A. and Caribbean (less frequent in Lesser Antilles) to n S.A. Frequent cowbird host. Very sensitive to fragmentation of forested breeding habitat.

NOTES:

One of the earliest warblers to arrive on breeding grounds; by foraging from bark, need not wait for trees to leaf out. Female performs distraction display if flushed from nest.

STANFORD. NOTES:

ESSAYS:

Decline of Eastern Songbirds; Breeding Season; Island Biogeography; Cowbirds; Distraction Displays.

REFERENCES:

Harrison, 1984.
Abbreviations
Species-Alphabetical Order
Species-Taxonomic Order
Except for Stanford Notes, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).