Family: Parulidae, Wood Warblers view all from this family

Description 4 1/2-5" (11-13 cm). Adult male olive green above and yellow below, with black crown patch. Most females and all young birds lack black crown and may be distinguished from other olive green warblers with yellow underparts by lack of wing bars, streaks, tail spots, or other markings.

Habitat Moist thickets in woodlands and along streams; alder and willow thickets and bogs.

Nesting 4 or 5 brown-spotted white eggs in a bulky mass of leaves, rootlets, and moss, lined with hair and fine plant materials, concealed on the ground in a dense clump of weeds or sedge.

Range Breeds from Alaska eastward to Newfoundland and south to southern California, New Mexico, central Ontario, and Nova Scotia. Winters in tropics.

Voice   A rapid, staccato series of chips, which drop in pitch at the end.

Discussion It is easy to observe this common warbler, which has little fear of humans, because it searches the outsides of leafy branches, often catching flying insects on the wing like a flycatcher. During early summer, the foraging male utters long bursts of vivid song. It is named for Scottish-American ornithologist and artist Alexander Wilson (1766-1813).