Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

      Bog
      or Treed Bog

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: Throughout its breeding range the Wilson's Warbler is associated with riparian thickets of willow, alder, and other shrubs. In the Great Lakes region, boreal habitat components usually are present, such as sphagnum moss, Labrador tea, tamarack, and black spruce. Most sightings during the Atlas period were in areas with these habitat characteristics.

The relative bulky nest is usually placed on the ground or in hummocks of vegetation. In areas with sphagnum moss, nests are sunken into the mat. More mesic habitats with brier areas also may be used for nesting. No nest has been found in Michigan.

Habitat: Breeding: Swampy, brushy land, such as tamarack bogs or swampy runs, willow and alder swales. Generally stays low, within 10 feet of ground.

Habitat: Thickets along wooded streams, moist tangles, low shrubs, willows, alders. Breeds as far north as timberline, in thickets, second growth, bogs, or in alder and willow groves near streams and ponds. In migration and winter, occurs from hot lowland thickets up to cool mountain woods; always in scrubby overgrown clearings and thin woods, not in the interior of dense forest.

Diet: Mostly insects. Presumably feeds mostly on insects, like other warblers. Frequent items in diet include bees, wasps, beetles, caterpillars, and aphids. Also eats some spiders and sometimes berries.

Nest: Usually on ground, sunken in moss or sedges, often at base of shrub. Nest is bulky open cup, built by female, made of dead leaves, grass, and moss; lined with fine grass and hair.