- Dendroica dominica
Identification
5" (13 cm). Grey, unstreaked upperparts, bright yellow throat, white belly, black-and-white facial pattern, heavy black streaks on sides. Sexes alike.
Distribution
Breeds from Illinois, Ohio, and New Jersey south to Missouri, Texas, Gulf Coast, and northern Florida. Winters from Gulf Coast states southward. Occasionally it may stray, and even breed, as far north of its usual range as New York and southern New England.
Taxonomy
Consists of four subspecies.
Subspecies1
- D. d. albilora - breeds se. Iowa south to e. Texas e. to Pennsylvania, western Carolinas, and northwestern Alabama
- D. d. dominica - breeds along the Atlantic coastal plain from s. New Jersey south to cen. Florida w. to Alabama
- D. d. flavescens - breeds in the Bahamas
- D. d. stoddardi - breeds along coastal Florida panhandle and adjacent Alabama
Habitat
Forests of pine, cypress, sycamore, and oak, in both swampy places and dry uplands. This attractive warbler is usually found in live oaks draped with Spanish moss or in longleaf pines.
Behaviour
It often creeps over the branches of the trunk like a Black-and-white Warbler.
Breeding: 4 purple-spotted greenish eggs in a nest of grass and bark strips lined with hair and feathers, often set in clumps of Spanish moss or among pine needles.
Voice: A series of clear ringing notes descending in pitch and increasing in speed, rising abruptly at the end, teeew-teeew-teeew-teeew-tew-tew-twi.
