The northern parula (Setophaga americana) is a colorful, feisty little bird.
I was lucky to get a close-up look at this uncommon warbler when one repeatedly flew into the window of a bedroom in our farmhouse, and momentarily perched in some vines growing on the side of the house beside the window.
This summer resident was likely more numerous and widespread during pre-settlement times, according to The Kentucky Breeding Bird Atlas, and today is irregularly distributed across the state.
In Kentucky, the northern parula is most numerous in the Cumberland Mountains, Cumberland Plateau and the swampy lowlands of the western river counties, uncommon or absent in many of the northeastern and Bluegrass Region counties.
Typically found in or near mature forests along riparian corridors, there are scattered populations along the Ohio River counties from Boone County downriver to the Mississippi River counties in the Jackson Purchase region, according to the range map in The Kentucky Breeding Bird Atlas.
The species was first identified in the scientific literature in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist and zoologist. The small warbler is a member of family Parulidae, which has 117 species.
An adult northern parula averages about 4.3 inches tall, with a wingspan of about 6.3 inches, and weighs .16 to .39 ounces.
Coloration is striking. Its head and back are blueish gray, with darker wings that have two white bars.
The neck and upper breast are bright yellow, shading into white, and there’s a small yellow-greenish patch on their backs. For a small bird its bill is rather long, black on top, yellowish below. Its eyes are dark with faint white eye rings.
Females are similar in coloration, but tend to be duller and may lack vivid wing bands.
The song of the northern parula is one or more rising buzzy notes dropping abruptly at the end, “bzzzzz-zip or bz-bz-bz-zip.”
Range and distribution
The range of the northern parula extends from Missouri, south to east Texas, east along the Gulf Coast to Florida, north up the Atlantic Coast to New York, west through parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and into southern Illinois.
A northern breeding population is also present in extreme northeastern Minnesota, northern Michigan, Maine and the adjacent Canadian Provinces, from eastern Manitoba to the Maritime Provinces.
Wintering grounds include some southeastern U.S. states, south Florida, Mexico and some Caribbean islands. Males first return to western Kentucky in early April and it is likely that most nesting birds are present by the end of the month.
Food habits
The northern Parula feeds primarily on terrestrial invertebrates, including spiders, damselflies, locusts, bugs, grasshoppers, aphids, beetles, caterpillars, flies, wasps, bees, and ants, but also consumes some small berries during the winter months.
It forages among the leaves, sometimes hanging upside down on twigs like a chickadee or on a tree trunk like a nuthatch, and may hover to take flying insects. Occasionally it forages on the ground.
Courtship and Nesting
Pairs often return to the same nesting site year after year. Males sing during migration and throughout nesting season, even when feeding young.
The females lays four to five eggs, occasionally as many as seven. They are whitish in color, variably marked with brown.
The eggs are incubated by both parents, but mostly by the female, for 12 to 14 days. Both parents feed their young, with the male most frequently. The age at which the young fledge (leave the nest) is about two weeks, but may vary by climate and location.
Their nests can be very high off the ground near the top of a tree. It’s a small hanging pouch of lichens and twigs, lined sparsely with soft shreds of moss, grass, pine needles, and animal hair.
They may also build their nests where floods have left sticks, leaves and other debris in the branches of large sycamore trees hanging over a stream.
Consider yourself lucky if you get to observe a Northern Parula up close. They spend a lot of time in thick foliage near the tops of trees along rivers and smaller streams. They are beautiful little birds distinctively marked, with an unforgettable sizzling song.
Yes, they are beautiful little creatures! We have many in my home area of St. Charles county, MO. I’ve been fortunate to photograph quite a few. Thank you for this article.