Worm-eating Warbler

1/500s, f5.6, ISO 4000, Canon EOS-1D X, EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM


The worm-eating warbler is a small New World warbler that breeds in the Eastern United States and migrates to southern Mexico and Central America for the winter. This bird breeds in dense deciduous forests in the eastern United States, usually on wooded slopes. The nest is an open cup placed on the ground, hidden among dead leaves. It is one of five species of new-world warblers that nests on the ground including the black-and-white warbler. The female lays four or five eggs. Both parents feed the young; they may try to distract predators near the nest by pretending to be injured. Worm-eating warblers are often parasitized by brown-headed cowbirds. On their breeding grounds, worm-eating warblers glean mostly from live foliage, searching for arthropods. On the wintering grounds, this species gleans insects almost exclusively from dead plant material; they rarely if ever eat earthworms.
Shawnee Forest, Ohio
 
04/22/2015