Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 4.3–5.5 in
11–14 cm - Wingspan
- 7.5 in
19 cm - Weight
- 0.2–0.4 oz
7–11 g
Other Names
- Paruline verdâtre (French)
- Gusanero cabecigrís, Gusanero de corona anaranjada (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- The Orange-crowned Warbler is divided into four subspecies that differ in plumage color, size, and molt patterns. The one named celata is found in Alaska and across Canada, and it is the dullest and grayest. The Pacific Coast form, lutescens, is the brightest yellow. Found throughout the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin, orestera is intermediate in appearance. The form sordida is the darkest green and is found only on the Channel Islands and locally along the coast of southern California and northern Baja California.
- The boreal-nesting form of the Orange-crowned Warbler has one of the latest fall migrations of any warbler, not leaving its Canadian breeding grounds until late September or October.
- It is likely that most, if not all of the early fall (August and early September) reports of Orange-crowned Warblers from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada are actually dull Tennessee Warblers.
Habitat
Forest
Breeds in streamside thickets and woodland groves with moderately dense foliage, and in understory of forests and chaparral. Winters in thickets and shrubs along streams, forests, weedy fields, and dense tangles of shrubs and vines.
Food
Insects
Insects and spiders.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 3–6 eggs
- Egg Description
- Whitish with fine reddish brown speckles.
- Condition at Hatching
- Helpless with sparse dark gray down.
Nest Description
Open cup of leaves and fine twigs, bark, rootlets, weeds, moss, plant down, or wool, lined with fine grasses, moss, or fur. Placed on or near ground, often on steep slope.
Nest Placement
Ground
Behavior
Foliage Gleaner
Flits through vegetation gleaning at tips of boughs, leaves, and tree blossoms; moves rapidly from perch to perch, probing with bill into clusters of leaves and moss; sometimes hawks for arboreal or flying insects.
Conservation
Least Concern
Abundant over much of range. May be experiencing a gradual long-term decline.
Credits
- Sogge, M. K., W. M. Gilbert, and C. v. Riper III. 1994. Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata). In The Birds of North America, No. 101 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists' Union.