Setophaga palmarum
eastern male
Palm Warbler sexes are very similar to one another, although males are usually subtly brighter than females. To complicate matters, birds from the east of the breeding range are brighter than western birds but all birds occupy the same range in winter. Eastern summer adults have faintly streaked olive-brown upperparts and darker wings with two pale wingbars. The head has a chestnut crown, dark eye stripe, yellow supercilium, olive cheeks, and a yellow throat. The underparts are otherwise yellow with rufous streaks on the flanks. Western summer adults have a grayer back; yellow on the underparts is confined to the throat and undertail. Adults in fall, and immatures, are less colorful than their respective spring adult counterparts, and lack the rufous crown and streaks on the flanks. Eastern birds have a yellowish supercilium and yellow-suffused underparts, while western birds have a white supercilium and underparts that are gray except for the yellow undertail.
The Palm Warbler breeds in northern North America mainly from May to August. It spends the rest of the year in southeast U.S.A. and the Caribbean region. It often feeds on the ground and wags its tail as it moves.
western male
FACT FILE
LENGTH 5.5 in (14 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates
HABITAT Northern conifer forests in summer; wide range of woodland in winter
STATUS Widespread and common summer visitor; fairly common in winter in the southeast
VOICE Song is a trilling series of buzzing notes. Call is a sharp tchik
