Family: Parulidae, Wood Warblers view all from this family

Description 5" (13 cm). Olive above, bright yellow below, with black spots and streaks along sides; male has chestnut streaks on back. Female and immature have fewer streaks. Bobs its tail vigorously.

Habitat Not found on prairies. In the North, mixed pine-oak barrens, old pastures, and hillsides with scattered red cedars; in the South, open scrub; in extreme southern Florida, mangrove swamps.

Nesting 4 brown-spotted white eggs in a nest of grass and leaves lined with hair and feathers, usually set low in a bush or small tree.

Range Breeds from eastern Nebraska, central Wisconsin, southern Ontario, and central New England south to Oklahoma, Gulf Coast, and Florida; local in many areas. Winters in southern Florida and in tropics.

Voice   Buzzy zee-zee-zee, up to 10 rapidly ascending notes.

Discussion This species avoids thick woods and has benefited greatly from the cutting and burning of the forests, which favors the younger seedlings and smaller bushes that sprout after fires. Like the Palm Warbler, it forages in low undergrowth, rarely ascending higher than 10 feet (3 meters).