PROTHONOTARY WARBLER The Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. As a neo-tropical migrant, the Prothonotary Warbler breeds in in bottomland hardwood swamps of the Southeastern United States and winters in the mangrove forests of Central and South America. Generally 13 centimetres (5.1 in) long and weighing in at 12.5 grams (0.44 oz), the Prothontary Warbler has an olive back with blue-grey wings and tail, yellow underparts, a relatively long pointed bill and black legs. Adult males have a bright, orange-yellow head while females and immature birds are duller and have a yellow head. When viewed from below, the short, wide tail has a distinctive two-toned pattern, white at the base and dark at the vvtip.
NATURAL CAVITY
Researchers do not clean out natural cavities so there is a build up nest material that can become a place for some bird parasites to live and infect adult and juvenile birds from year to year.
Natural cavity might be over water or over land and some will be easier for predators to access than others.
Natural cavities are more variable in where they occur. They might be over water or over land and some will be easier for predators to access than others.
Bird parasites from the nest could infect birds from year to year.
High food availbility
NEST BOX
Researches clean nests out of nest box every year. So any parasites that might be present are removed as well.
Placed on poles over water to decrease the chance of predation from predators.
increased mate availability
Researches clean nests out of nest box every year.
High food availbility
Wooded swamps, bottomland swamps, or along rivers and streams. Pictures labeled Four Mile Creek and Northern habit will give you an idea of what it looks like. The Prothonotary Warbler is found mostly in the southern US but may occur as far north as New York.
The Prothonotary Warbler winters in Central and South America. VCU studies it in Panama. The image labeled Prothonotary Warbler Migration will show where they nest and where they go for the winter.
Breeding Resident
Non-breeding Resident
when the baby birds are in the nest box, we take them out and put a silver number band on them and a single color band. All the baby birds we band in a season get the same color. If we re-catch the bird again then we add two other color bands so the bird will have an individual color combination. That way if we see them from far away we can tell what bird it is without having to see the number band.
In Panama there is a lot of development going on, a lot of hotels and resorts are being built on top of the mangroves, reducing the winter habitat for the warbler and other migratory birds. This is a bad thing because without this habitat it reduces the likely hood that the birds will survive the winters. We are gathering data on the Prothonotary warbler when they are in the mangroves to show why they are important and why the mangroves need to be preserved.