Magnolia Warbler
Around the year 1810, pioneering ornithologist Alexander Wilson observed a flock of colorful warblers in some magnolia trees in Fort Adams, Mississippi. Wilson collected one of them and gave the bird the scientific name Sylvia magnolia after the trees in which he first observed it. Although he and other early ornithologists called it the "Black and Yellow Warbler," "Magnolia Warbler" stuck as its common name.

The Magnolia Warblers that Wilson found in Mississippi were migrating from Central America to their northern breeding grounds. "Spruce Warbler" might be a more appropriate name because the Magnolia Warbler most often breeds in moist forests of spruce and other conifers. The breeding range extends from the Yukon Territories and British Columbia across the boreal forests of Canada to Labrador, and south to northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, throughout New England and locally south in the Appalachians to West Virginia. The highest population densities are found in dense stands of second growth spruce and balsam fir in the northern parts of the range. Farther south in the Appalachian Mountains, Magnolia Warblers commonly breed in stands of hemlock. Rarely, they may nest in drier oak-hickory woodlands. Magnolia Warblers are tolerant of disturbed woodlands and readily use recovering clearcuts, edges, and other types of forest openings.
Magnolia Warbler Range Map

Although Magnolia Warblers will eat berries during inclement weather, they use less vegetable food than other Dendroica warblers and are normally exclusively insectivorous. They glean insects from the undersides of leaves and occasionally from bark crevices at low to middle levels of the forest. While foraging, the Magnolia Warbler frequently spreads its tail, exposing bold white patches.

A typical Magnolia Warbler's song consists of a series of six or seven musical notes with the last note higher in pitch, as "weety, weety, weety, wee." The song is similar to that of the Chestnut-sided Warbler but is shorter, with a less emphatic ending. It also resembles the Hooded Warbler's song, but is less rich.

Nests are flimsy constructions concealed within small conifers in a bog or overgrown clearing. They are usually located close to the trunk, from one to fifteen feet off the ground. The female does most of the assembly of small twigs, grasses, mosses, pine needles, and rootlets that make up the nest. Invariably she lines the nest with fine black rootlets. Typically, the female lays a single clutch of four eggs which is incubated for 11 to 13 days. The fledglings leave the nest after eight to ten days. The parents may continue to feed the young for an additional 25 days after fledging.

Fall migration is protracted, lasting from late August through September. Most migrating Magnolia Warblers follow the Appalachians or the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf Coast and then fly across the Gulf of Mexico to winter in the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America. Some follow the western Gulf Coast rather than attempting the long water crossing, while others migrate through Florida and the West Indies. Spring migrants essentially follow the reverse path, although some take a more easterly route through North America than in the fall.

Description: Like many warblers in the genus Dendroica, Magnolias have strikingly different spring and fall plumages. However, all plumages share the distinctive tail pattern with a white band across the middle of the outer feathers.

Males in breeding plumage have black upperparts and a black facial mask. The crown is gray, separated from the black facial mask by a white supercilium. The throat, breast, belly, and rump are bright yellow. Flanks and breast are heavily streaked with black, the streaks forming a necklace across the upper breast. The vent area and undertail coverts are white. The wings are gray with a large white wing panel. Breeding females resemble males, but with more subdued colors. The mask is gray rather than black, the streaking on the breast and flanks is less bold, and the back is mostly olive gray with reduced amounts of black.

In the fall, males lose the black facial mask and back. The streaking of the underparts is greatly reduced and the necklace fades to a gray band. Fall females and immatures are duller than birds in breeding condition, with reduced streaking and facial markings and a gray breast band.


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