Hermit Warbler

Setophaga occidentalis

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male

The Hermit Warbler is a distinctive songbird. The sexes are subtly dissimilar. Adult males have dark gray upperparts with subtly darker wings showing two white wingbars. The tail is dark above with white outer feathers, and white below. The head pattern comprises a yellow face, surrounded by a dark-speckled nape and black throat and chest. The underparts are white with very faint dark streaking. Adult females are similar to an adult male but the upperparts are paler, and the ear coverts are tinged gray. Immatures are similar to an adult female but the upperparts are dull olive-brown.

The Hermit Warbler is a Pacific Northwest specialty and is present in montane conifer forests as a breeding species mainly from May to August. It spends the rest of the year in Central America. It is a notoriously secretive species that usually feeds high in the treetops.

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female

FACT FILE

LENGTH 5.25 in (13.5 cm)

FOOD Invertebrates

HABITAT Upland conifer forests

STATUS Locally common summer visitor

VOICE Song is a rattling wezee-wezee-wezee . . . Call is a thin tzip

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