Black-Throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens)

Group Warblers
Code ABPBX03100
Order Passeriformes
Family Parulidae
Author (Gmelin, 1789)
Rank G5 (definitions)
Occurrence LM (definitions)
Scale S (definitions)

County List:

Western UP none
Eastern UP none
Northern LP none
Southern LP none

Rule:

Forested or Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

      (Spruce/Fir (Pole or Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Hemlock (Pole or Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Red Pine (Pole or Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (White Pine Pole or Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Upland Mixed (Pole or Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
view decision rule term definitions

Habitat List:

Habitats Regen Sap Pole Sm Saw Lg Saw Uneven
Aspen nonononono-
Paper Birch nonononono-
Oak nononononono
Assorted Hardwoods nononononono
Northern Hardwoods nononononono
Spruce/Fir nonoYESYESYESYES
Hemlock nonoYESYESYESYES
Jack Pine nononononono
Red Pine nonoYESYESYESYES
White Pine nonoYESYESYESYES
Conifer Plantations nonononono-
Mixed Upland Hardwoods nonoYESYESYESYES
Mixed Northern Hardwoods nonoYESYESYESYES
Mixed Upland Conifer nonoYESYESYESYES
Mixed Pine nonoYESYESYESYES
Swamp Hardwoods nononononono
Balsam Poplar & Swamp Aspen & Swamp Birch nononononono
Bottomland Hardwoods nononononono
Tamarack nononononono
Northern White Cedar nononononono
Black Spruce nononononono
Mixed Lowland Hardwoods nononononono
Mixed Lowland Conifer nononononono
Non-Forestednone
Special Featuresnone

view size class definitions

Literature:

Doepker, R. and J. J. Ozoga. 1991. Black-throated Green Warbler. Pages 406-407 In: R. Brewer, G. A. McPeek, and R. J. Adams, Jr. (eds.) The atlas of breeding birds of Michigan. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing. 594 pp.

This species is a widely distributed and common summer resident of mature, mixed conifer-hardwood forests. The geographic range corresponds to the southern portion of the boreal forest region and the hemlock-white pine-northern hardwood and mixed mesophytic forest regions identified by Braun (1950).

Habitat: The Atlas Habitat Survey results generally agree with the large volume of literature suggesting that the bird occurs most abundantly in extensive tracts of mature, mesic mixed forests containing hemlock, white pine, or fir, and secondarily in mesic deciduous and pure coniferous forests. Numbers tend to be lower in pure deciduous forest. Although strongly associated with hemlock, the species also occurs in wet mixed forest that includes white cedar and black spruce.

While Morse (1976) found the number of Dendroica species closely related to physical characteristics of the forest, interactions among species may also influence habitat use within a given area.

Nests are usually found on horizontal limbs of a conifer 20 to 30 feet above the ground.


DeGraaf, R. M. and D. D. Rudis. 1986. New England wildlife: habitat, natural history, and distribution. GTR NE-108. Broomall, PA:USDA, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 491 pp.

Habitat: Breeding: Usually in hemlocks, but sometimes in other northern conifers: pines, spruce, fir, and cedar. Rarely in maples, birches, and other hardwoods.

Special Habitat Requirements: Coniferous or mixed woodlands.


Kaufman, K. 1996. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 675 pp.

Habitat: Mainly conifers. Breeds mostly in coniferous and mixed forests, very locally in deciduous forest. Often nests around spruce, also in white pine, hemlock, red cedar, and jack pine. During migration, occurs widely in woodland and edges.

Diet: Insects, especially caterpillars. Feeds mainly on non-hairy caterpillars during summer, as well as beetles, true bugs, gnats, aphids, and others, also spiders. Takes poison-ivy berries and other berries in migration.

Nest: Sites are next to trunk where two or more small branches fork out of conifer, usually low (often a few feet above ground). Nest is open cup of twigs, grass, weeds, bark, spider webs, lined with plant fibers, hair, moss, and feathers.