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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Prothonotary Warbler

Protonotaria citrea

• rare
• 42 km/h
• Least Concern

Named for Vatican scribes who wore golden robes. Nests in tree cavities over swamp water. Unmistakable.

Population

~2.1 million mature individuals (2019 estimate), decreasing (~11% decline over the past decade per BirdLife assessment)

Habitat

Breeds in wooded swamps, flooded bottomland hardwood forests, and wooded areas near streams, ponds, and lakes; winters primarily in mangrove forests and moist lowland tropical forest, from sea level to about 1,300 m

Fun fact

The Prothonotary Warbler is the only eastern North American warbler species that nests in cavities (natural holes or old woodpecker cavities), and males build multiple incomplete "dummy" nests within a territory before the female selects and finishes the real one.

Range

Breeds in eastern North America (southeastern Ontario/Canada and the eastern/southeastern United States); winters in the Caribbean/West Indies, Central America, and northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname); rare vagrant to western US states

Diet

Insects and other invertebrates — caterpillars, beetles, mayflies, midges, ants, spiders, and snails — gleaned from low foliage, bark, and near water

Size

0.13 m

Wingspan

0.22 m

Lifespan

8 years