Warblers- ORDER: Passeriformes
- FAMILY: Parulidae
Basic Description
The dapper black and yellow Prairie Warbler is a lively resident not of prairies, but of scrubby second-growth forests and young stands of pine. Slender and elegant, with a constantly flicking tail, the Prairie Warbler likely benefited from the mass clearing of eastern forests following European colonization of the Americas. The species has declined in some parts of its range as forests have regenerated.
More ID InfoFind This Bird
Finding this bird during the breeding season is often as simple as finding the scrubby second-growth forests, young pine stands, and overgrown pastures that it prefers. In spring, listen for males singing from a mostly exposed perch in one of the tallest trees in its territory, a distinctive sputtering buzz that starts low and climbs high up the scale, beyond human hearing.
Other Names
- Reinita Galana (Spanish)
- Paruline des prés (French)
- Cool Facts
- Prairie Warblers that breed in the Florida mangroves are a separate subspecies from the more widespread migratory ones. These Florida Prairie Warblers are slightly larger and have larger white spots on their tails.
- Like most warblers, Prairie Warbler sings two similar, but distinct, song types. The faster “A Song” is directed at the female for courtship and the “B Song” is sung at territorial boundaries to deter other males.
- The oldest recorded Prairie Warbler was a male, just shy of 8 years old, when he was recaptured and rereleased at a banding operation in Connecticut.