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Connecticut Warbler    Oporornis agilis

image Migratory Status: Neotropical migrant

PIF Population Estimate: Help1 200 000

Percent of western hemisphere population breeding in boreal forest: 92%

BAM Effective Detection Radius (m) Help: 90.05

PIF Maximum Detection Distance (m) Help: 125

Canadian BBS Population trend: -1.6 n.s. (-3.9 to 0.8)

Life History

The Connecticut Warbler is a relatively large wood warbler with an olive back, yellow breast, and prominent grey to indistinct brownish hood. It is distinguished from similar members of this genus by a prominent whitish eye-ring, which is present in all plumages. The loud and resonant song of this species contrasts with its rather shy and elusive nature, making it one of the more difficult species to see.

The Connecticut Warbler occupies a wide range of forest types throughout its breeding range, though it generally occupies poorly-drained spruce-larch (Picea-Larix) forests in the east and open, aspen-dominated stands in the west.

The Connecticut Warbler is a member of the genus Oporornis, which along with the MacGillivray’s Warbler (O. tolmiei) and the Mourning Warbler (O. philadelphia) may form a superspecies complex. Named by Alexander Wilson who first described a specimen in the state of Connecticut in 1812, this name is a misnomer as the species rarely occurs as a migrant in this state.

The species’ breeding range extends over most of the southern boreal forest, from eastern Quebec to north-eastern British Columbia. The breeding range also extends south into some deciduous-dominated forests around the Great Lakes. The winter range is primarily within the Amazon basin of northern South America, and west of the Andes Mountains. The Connecticut Warbler is the only North American songbird over-wintering in this area.



Reference(s)

Pitocchelli, J., J. Bouchie, and D. Jones. 1997. Connecticut Warbler (Oporornis agilis), The Birds of North America, No. 320. A. Poole and F. Gill, eds. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists's Union, Washington, D.C.