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Prothonotary Warbler
(Protonotaria citrea)


Also known as Golden Swamp Warblers because of their stunning color and penchant for damp lowland woods, Prothonotary Warblers breed mainly in the southeastern United States and winter in mangrove forests of Central and South America. This species, which nests in cavities, is threatened by habitat destruction on both its breeding and wintering grounds.


Identification
The bright golden head of an adult male Prothonotary Warbler makes it one of the most striking birds in North America. The brilliant yellow of the head stretches down the breast before eventually giving way to white undertail coverts. The yellowish head and underparts of this bird are set off nicely by blue-gray wings, an olivish back, and a blue-gray tail with prominent white spots. Female Prothonotary Warblers share the same plumage pattern as males, but are not as brilliantly colored.


Distribution and Population Trends
Prothonotary Warblers can be found nesting across much of the eastern United States, ranging from Florida and eastern Texas north to Wisconsin, western New York, and northern New Jersey. Their breeding stronghold, however, is in the lowlands of the southeastern United States. Many Audubon Important Bird Areas (IBAs) provide nesting habitat for Prothonotary Warblers, including North Carolina's Roanoke River Bottomlands IBA and Florida's Osceola National Forest-Okefenokee and Pinhook Swamps IBA. Most birds winter in northern Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, but the species can also be found in coastal mangroves as far north as Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

The most recent Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data show a non-significant decline of 1.1% per year for Prothonotary Warblers between 1966 and 2000; during much of this period (1966 to 1996), however, the BBS data reveal a significant annual decline of 1.6%.

Ecology
Prothonotary Warblers breed in wooded swamps, flooded bottomland forests, and along slow-moving rivers. As the only eastern wood warblers that nest in cavities, the birds often use old Downy Woodpecker nests in dead snags. They will also utilize nest boxes for nesting, which begins in April. The female builds the nest, using mostly mosses and liverworts. The female then incubates a typical clutch of four to six eggs for 12 to 14 days. Young birds leave the nest after about 11 days at which time it has been claimed that they can swim if necessary. In the southern part of their breeding range, Prothonotary Warblers will nest twice in one season.

Prothonotary Warblers eat mostly insects and snails during the breeding season; the bulk of the food taken includes caterpillars, flies, midges, spiders, and mayflies. On its wintering grounds, this species will also eat fruits, seeds, and nectar along with insects. Birds depart for their winter territories beginning in late July, arriving on the wintering grounds from late August through October.

Threats
Destruction of mangroves on Prothonotary Warblers' wintering grounds is probably the greatest threat to these birds; coastal development, highway construction, agriculture, and aquaculture have eliminated 50 to 70% of the original mangroves in Colombia and Ecuador. Increased destruction of mangroves in the Neotropics seems to match the timing of declines of Prothonotary Warblers in the heart of their breeding range, although no there is no direct evidence that this caused the decline. In addition, breeding habitat in the United States is being degraded and destroyed. Only 10% of the United States' historic bottomland forest--prime breeding habitat for the Prothonotary Warbler--remains. Besides eliminating possible nesting sites, logging can also change the hydrology of breeding sites, resulting in the drying of the seasonally flooded woods that Prothonotary Warblers prefer.

Conservation
Partners in Flight (PIF) lists Prothonotary Warbler as a high priority species for the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, an area that hosts 20% of the breeding population of this species. One of the goals of the Bird Conservation Plan for the Mississippi Alluvial Valley is to maintain or restore more than 1,500,000 hectares of predominantly mature, forested wetlands in 100 patches of contiguous forest; all of these forest patches should be large enough to support source populations of Prothonotary Warblers. This species has also been identified as a high priority species by PIF for the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Part of PIF's conservation objective for this area calls for 300,000 acres of forested wetland, to support 16,000 pairs of Prothonotary Warblers, along with other birds found in this habitat.


What Can You Do?
Audubon's Important Bird Area program is a vital tool for the conservation of Prothonotary Warblers as well as other species. To learn more about the Important Bird Areas program and how you can help, visit: http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/.

U.S. National Wildlife Refuges provide essential habitat for Prothonotary Warblers, and a great number of other species throughout the U.S. and its territories. Unfortunately, the refuge system is often under-funded during the U.S. government's budgeting process. To learn more about how you can help gain much needed funding for U.S. National Wildlife Refuges, visit: http://www.audubon.org/campaign/refuge_report/

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the USDA Forest Service coordinate Birds in Forested Landscapes, a citizen-science project that links volunteer birders and professional ornithologists in a study of the habitat requirements of North American forest birds, including Prothonotary Warblers. To learn more about Birds in Forested Landscapes, and how you can participate in the project, visit: http://birds.cornell.edu/bfl/.

References
Dunn, J., and K. Garrett. 1997. Peterson Field Guide: Warblers. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York.

Kaufman, Kenn. 1996. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York.

Petit, L. J. 1999. Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). In The Birds of North America, No. 408 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D. C.