Nashville Warbler

The Nashville Warbler is a compact, energetic warbler notable for the striking contrast between its gray head and bright olive-green back. A bold, complete white eyering gives the face an alert, wide-eyed look, and the underparts are a clean lemon yellow. Males often show a small chestnut patch on the crown, though it is usually concealed and hard to see in the field.

Like the Tennessee Warbler, it is named for a chance encounter in Tennessee rather than any strong association with the state. Two geographically separated breeding populations exist, an eastern group centered on the Great Lakes and New England and a western group in the Pacific Northwest and California, which differ subtly in color and voice.

Key field marks

• Gray head contrasting sharply with an olive-green back
• Bold, complete white eyering
• Bright yellow throat and underparts, with white on the lower belly
• No wingbars
• Small, often-hidden chestnut crown patch

Similar species

The combination of gray head, white eyering, and yellow underparts without wingbars is distinctive, but Virginia's Warbler and MacGillivray's Warbler can cause confusion in the West. Virginia's Warbler is grayer overall with far less yellow, confined mainly to the breast and undertail coverts, while MacGillivray's Warbler is larger with a broken "spectacled" eye pattern rather than a complete eyering and lacks the Nashville's contrasting olive back.

Nashville Warblers breed in a variety of second-growth and edge habitats, including regenerating clear-cuts, bogs with scattered shrubs, and brushy woodland borders. The eastern population favors mixed and coniferous second growth across the Great Lakes region and New England into eastern Canada, while the western population breeds in chaparral, oak woodland, and mixed forest edges from the Pacific Northwest south through California.

Both populations winter primarily in Mexico, with smaller numbers reaching Central America and the southern United States.

Behavior and voice

Nashville Warblers forage actively and low to the ground in dense shrubs, gleaning insects and spiders from leaves and twigs, and they will also make short flycatching sallies after flying insects.

The song is a distinctive two-parted phrase, often rendered as "seebit-seebit-seebit-seebit, titititititi," with a slower first section giving way to a rapid trill.

Nesting

The nest is a well-concealed cup built on or very near the ground, tucked into moss, a grass tussock, or the base of a shrub. Clutches typically contain 4-5 eggs, incubated by the female.