Hermit Warbler Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small songbird with classic warbler proportions, including a moderately long tail and a rather short, slender, straight bill.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Bushtit, smaller than a White-crowned Sparrow.

  sparrow-sized or smaller

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 5.5 in (14 cm)
    • Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (9-13 g)
    • Wingspan: 7.9 in (20 cm)

  © John van Dort / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Breeding males have a golden-yellow head and a black throat, with a dark gray back and two white wingbars. The upper breast is white with blackish streaking. Adult females and nonbreeding males have similar patterning but with subdued colors.

• Behavior

  Flits and hops quickly along high branches, typically of evergreens, to glean insects and spiders from branches and foliage. During migration and winter, joins mixed-species foraging flocks.
• Habitat

  Tall coniferous forests, especially fir, pine, spruce, Douglas-fir, redwood, and sequoia, usually in mountainous areas. Winters in pine, pine-oak, and cloud forest habitats in mountains of Mexico and northern Central America. Migrants also occur in stream corridors forests, at desert oases, and in suburban parks.