Birdsong field guide
Mourning Warbler
Geothlypis philadelphia
A shy, ground-dwelling wood-warbler characterized by its olive plumage, yellow underparts, and the male's distinctive gray hood with a dark, bib-like 'mourning' patch on the breast.
What it sounds like
A loud, rolling, rhythmic song often transcribed as 'churry-churry-churry, chorry-chorry' with a distinct drop in pitch on the final notes.
Reference call, compare with what you heard
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Field notes
- Unlike the very similar MacGillivray’s Warbler, the adult male Mourning Warbler typically lacks a white eye-ring.
- They are early successional specialists, frequently colonizing forest clearings created by fire, logging, or windthrow within a few years.
- During migration, they are notoriously elusive, preferring to skulk in dense, tangled undergrowth within a few feet of the ground.
- Mourning Warblers are among the latest wood-warblers to arrive on their northern breeding grounds in the spring, often not appearing until late May.
- They are long-distance migrants that winter primarily in southern Central America and northwestern South America, often in coffee plantations.
Habitat
Dense second-growth thickets, briar patches, regenerating forest clearcuts, and edges of boreal bogs.
Range
Breeds across the boreal forest of Canada and the Great Lakes/Northeastern U.S.; winters from Nicaragua to Ecuador and Venezuela.
Similar & commonly confused birds
Altamira YellowthroatGeothlypis flavovelataBahama YellowthroatGeothlypis rostrataBelding's YellowthroatGeothlypis beldingiBlack-lored YellowthroatGeothlypis auricularisBlack-polled YellowthroatGeothlypis speciosaCommon YellowthroatGeothlypis trichasGray-crowned YellowthroatGeothlypis poliocephalaHooded YellowthroatGeothlypis nelsoni
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