Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 4.3–4.7 in
11–12 cm - Wingspan
- 6.3–7.1 in
16–18 cm - Weight
- 0.2–0.4 oz
5–11 g
Other Names
- Parula Warbler
- Paruline à collier, La Fauvette parula (French)
- Verdin silvestre, Reinita pechidorada, Bijirita chica (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- The distribution of the Northern Parula has an unusual break north to south. It may formerly have nested in that zone, and was eradicated. Explanations for the disappearance may be changes in habitat or increasing air pollution, which limited the growth of epiphytes on trees that the warbler depended on for nesting.
- Since the 1950s, Northern Parula has nested several times along the coastal region of northern California, far from the normal range.
Habitat
Forest
Northern Parulas breed in mature forests along streams, swamps, and other bottomlands. They're closely associated with epiphytic plants that grow on the branches of canopy trees. In the southern U.S. they use Spanish moss; farther north they use beard moss. Key tree species include water, willow, and swamp chestnut oak, black gum, eastern hemlock, sugar and red maple, birches, and sycamore On its tropical wintering grounds, parulas use many habitat types including fields, pastures, scrub, woodland, and coffee, cacao, and citrus plantations.
Food
Insects
Spiders and many kinds of insects, particularly caterpillars. Also eats beetles, moths, ants, wasps, bees, flies, locusts, and others. During the breeding season Northern Parulas also occasionally eat bud scales and on wintering grounds they sometimes eat berries, seeds, or nectar.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 2–7 eggs
- Number of Broods
- 1-2 broods
- Egg Length
- 0.6–0.7 in
1.5–1.8 cm - Egg Width
- 0.5–0.5 in
1.2–1.3 cm - Incubation Period
- 12–14 days
- Nestling Period
- 10–11 days
- Egg Description
- White to creamy-white, speckled with of red, brown, purple, or gray.
- Condition at Hatching
- Helpless, eyes closed, with scant white down on head and back.
Nest Description
Females do most of the nest building, hollowing out a hanging mass of vegetation to create a side entrance and a cup. It is lined with additional epiphytes or hair, fine grasses, or pine needles. Nests are about 3 inches across and 2 inches deep. Nest building takes about 4 days. Where Spanish moss or other epiphytes are absent, Northern Parulas may make hanging nests from other materials or place a nest inside river debris that has been trapped high in branches during a flood.
Nest Placement
Tree
Nests are usually in a hanging clump of epiphytes like Spanish moss, beard moss, or lace lichen. They tend to be placed at the end of a branch and as high as 100 feet above the ground (making them quite difficult to study).
Behavior
Foliage Gleaner
Northern Parulas forage by gleaning leaves and branch tips for insects and spiders. They fly with rapid wingbeats and hop quickly through branches. When acting defensively, parulas may demonstrate a wing-droop display, during which wingtips are held below the base of the tail as the bird calls.
Conservation
Least Concern
Northern Parula populations seem to be stable. Migrating Northern Parulas regularly hit structures such as communication towers and are killed. The species uses epiphytic plants for nesting, and poor air quality in several northeastern states during the twentieth century seems to have affected Northern Parulas by depriving them of this resource. Pesticides used to combat spruce budworm in Canada's maritime provinces may also have caused population declines. Clearcutting and the draining of bogs may have hurt populations in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Missouri. According to NatureServe, breeding populations are of particular concern in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Newfoundland, Canada.
Credits
- Moldenhauer, R. R., and D. J. Regelski. 1996. Northern Parula (Parula americana). In The Birds of North America, No. 215 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.