The Nashville Warbler would stand understated in a police lineup of warblers; perhaps second to only the Orange-crowned Warbler. Unlike the hot orange of the Blackburnian Warbler, or the bold patterning of the Black-and-white Warbler, the Nashville Warbler’s yellow throat, olive back, and blue-gray head meet the minimum grooming standards for a warbler. On the other hand, placed in a lineup of sparrows, the Nashville Warbler looks downright flamboyant.
Migrating through Wisconsin at about this time, Nashville Warblers tend to be abundant on their way to the northern forests. In Wisconsin, the birds generally nest north of the tension zone, though important range revisions were studied from 1983-1993. The study found that Nashville Warblers nest in scattered southeastern counties in tamarack swamps with a heavy shrub component. These isolated records are interesting, since their habitat is a glacial relict, a leftover from a cooler and wetter climate. Whether these birds will persist on the edge of their range in these small pockets of habitat under a volatile climate trajectory seems doubtful.
A Nashville Warbler in dense cover. Photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren
A diet of insects sustains the Nashville Warbler through all seasons, to its wintering grounds in tropical deciduous forest and cloud forests in Mexico. In northern Wisconsin, the birds will nest in cutover areas, and prefer edge habitat with a coniferous component. Important habits include boreal forest and muskeg, but you can also find Nashville Warblers in drier spots like pine barrens. They nest on or near the ground, typically hidden in a well-developed shrub cover.
You can find Nashville Warblers in most shrubby or wooded habitats in Faville Grove. If you’re brave enough, you might even look for breeding pairs in tamarack lowland areas in a month or so.
Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward
Cover photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren
