SPECIES

Golden-winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera Scientific name definitions

John L. Confer, Patricia Hartman, and Amber Roth
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated March 25, 2011

Distribution

Introduction

Breeding Range

Occurs in localized sites in the Cumberland and s. Blue Ridge Mtns. from extreme n. Georgia (12 individuals, Klaus 2010) and w. North Carolina (97 in early 2000s, Swarthout et al. 2009), north and east to higher elevations of Tennessee (300, Buehler pers. comm.). Rare in hilltop removal sites in se. Kentucky (2 in 2009, PJH); common in higher elevations but declining or extirpated in other areas of West Virginia (Wilson et al. 2007).

Recorded in 38 atlas blocks in the two western-most counties in Maryland from 2002-2006 (Maryland and the District of Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas 2002-2006); virtually extirpated in Ohio (1, Peterjohn 2001); found northeast into Pennsylvania where it is locally common; a few in e. New Jersey (~20 in 2008, Petzinger 2009). Sparsely distributed throughout NY State, with concentrations in the St. Lawrence River valley and Hudson Highlands (Confer 2008); remnant populations in Vermont (7), Massachusetts (1) and Connecticut (7, numbers from Swarthout et al. 2009). Most of these breeders are part of a disjunct, northern population that extends from se. Quebec along the St. Lawrence River valley, the Ontario border, and the U.S. border with New York and Vermont (Jobin, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada) westward into Ontario near the s. Great Lakes.

Species common in central and n. Michigan, central and n. Wisconsin and central Minnesota, with an expanding population in Manitoba (333, Artuso et al. 2008) and a few individuals in Saskatchewan.

See also Historical Changes in Population, below.

Winter Range

Southern Central America and n. South America, including central Guatemala and n. Honduras southward to n. and w. Venezuela and w. Columbia, generally more abundant on the Caribbean side (Figure 1; Keast 1980, Rappole et al. 1983, Ridgley and Tudor 1989). A recent compilation of sightings, specimens, and banding records from Central and South America suggests the wintering range is more restricted than previously thought, with most records originating from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela (M. Moreno pers. comm.). Records north from Nicaragua and in the Caribbean are suspected to be birds in passage.

Extralimital Records

Rarely wanders; one record for the UK, an individual surviving a mild winter in Kent 24 Jan to 10 Apr 1989 (Lewington et al. 1991).

Historical Changes to the Distribution

Extensive change in breeding range during the last 140 yr and continuing today. Range expansion and population increase during the 1800s and 1900s was facilitated by large-scale anthropogenic disturbance. In the late 1800s to early 1900s, may have increased in abundance, if not range, in disturbance ecosystems, especially clear cuts, in the northern Midwest. In the late 1800s to mid 1900s, expanded in New York and New Jersey and into New England, often nesting in abandoned farmland. Currently contracting range and declining in abundance in the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mts. (especially lower elevations), Mid-Atlantic States, New England, the southern tier of counties in Michigan and Wisconsin, and in s. Ontario, but increasing at the northwest and northeastern limits of its range in Manitoba and n. New York.

Declines to very low numbers correlate with reforestation and fire suppression, e.g., Georgia, and a decline in availability of early succession fields and clear cuts in New York, New England, and the southern tier of counties in the northern states of the midwest.

Extirpation has occurred in much of the range following the arrival of the Blue-winged Warbler, despite the presence of some suitable habitat (see Habitat and Conservation and Management). Details for selected regions follow:

New England: Expanded into coastal Connecticut and Massachusetts in mid- to late 1800s. Widespread in lower elevations throughout New England, except Maine, by mid-1900s (Gill 1980). No breeding records in more than a decade for Rhode Island. None detected in 328 10-min point counts in shrublands throughout the northeast from 1998-2000 (Confer and Pascoe 2003), but remnant populations of a few individuals each in selected sites in Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts in 2000-2003 (Swarthout et al. 2009).

New York: Small numbers at scattered locations in s. and central New York in the mid- to late 1800s. Increased abundance in the south in the early 1900s. Leading edge of moderate abundance advanced north at 6.4 km/yr during the 1900s. Now declining throughout most of the state, but increasing in the St. Lawrence River valley (Confer 2008) and maintaining a stable, small population of high genetic and phenotypic purity in swamp forests of s. New York (Confer et al. 2010).

Pennsylvania: (Adapted from J. L. Larkin in Swarthout et al. 2009). Populations may have peaked in Pennsylvania in the mid-1900s. A few sites support populations with > 50 pairs: grouse management habitat at Pennsylvania State Game Lands 176, Center Co. (Kubel and Yahner 2007); grouse management sites in Bald Eagle State Park and intensive burn sites in n. Centre Co.

Currently occurs in moderate numbers in isolated portions of ne. and n.-central Pennsylvania and diffusely distributed across s. Pennsylvania. The federal Breeding Bird Survey indicates a decline of 9.7% annually from 1966 to 2007. The second Pennsylvania breeding bird atlas shows a decline from 615 blocks in the first atlas to 219 blocks in 2004-2008 during a 20 yr period.

New Jersey: Rare summer resident in northern counties (Passaic and Sussex) according to historical accounts (Shriner 1896, Stone 1909). In 2001, about 200 territories distributed primarily in the New Jersey Highlands (s. Sussex and nw. Passaic counties) and sparsely along the Kittatiny Ridge bordering Pennsylvania in n. Sussex County. About a 75% decline by 2008 with apparent extirpation of the Kittatiny Ridge population and estimates of about 24 pairs from the high headwaters of the Pequannock River of e. Sussex Co., and nw. Morris Co. and w. Passaic Co. in 2008 (Petzinger 2009, D. Miranda cited in Swarthout et al. 2009).

Kentucky: Rare during the mid-1900s (Mengel 1965) and only recently confirmed as breeding in the state: Cumberland Mts. in se. Kentucky. First summer record in 1944 followed by steady increase in reports of scattered high-elevation populations (Palmer-Ball 1996). Expansion facilitated by increased disturbance habitat due to coal surface mining and clearcutting. Long-term trends difficult to determine because of small and ephemeral nature of populations, but recent observations suggest local populations wane and blink out in association with successional advancement and the arrival of Blue-winged Warblers. From 2004 to 2008 on two hilltop removal sites in Bell and Whitley counties the number of territorial males declined from 29 to 22 while Blue-winged Warbler males increased from 8 to 45.  In 2009, Golden-winged Warbler populations at both sites crashed, with only a single male detected (Patton and PJH pers. comm.).

Georgia: Common in some higher elevations of several n. counties in the late 1800s in open oak woodlands, probably maintained by fire (Burleigh 1958). Now 12 known pairs in fire-managed habitat in extreme north, decline associated with the loss of fire-maintained ecosystems (Klaus 2010).

Virginia: Surveys with audio playback detected 56 males at 27 habitat patches in 11 counties out of 932 point counts (Wilson et al. 2007): almost all at higher elevations, especially Giles Co. (Swarthout et al. 2009). Historical accounts also indicate it was a rare breeder of high elevation sites in Giles County (Bailey 1913).

Maryland: Occurred in about 50 blocks of Maryland Atlas (2010) in two most w. counties.

West Virginia: Formerly widely distributed, probably expanded into chestnut-sprout forests following the spread of the chestnut blight (G. A. Hall pers. comm.). Now extirpation from lower elevations associated with intrusion of the Blue-winged Warbler (R. Canterbury pers. comm.) and largely restricted to old surface coal mining sites (R. Canterbury pers. comm.).

North Carolina: Common in two northern counties at the beginning of the 1880s (Brewster 1886). In 1998, 76 territories were found in w. North Carolina (Klaus and Buehler 2001), but only 2 were detected by Swarthout et al. (2009).

Southern Midwest: From Iowa (Cecil 1996) to Ohio, virtually no breeding activity since the 1980s, excepting two records in Ohio (Peterjohn 2001). In Illinois, formerly bred in northern half of state and possibly in the south but no confirmed breeding since a pair was seen carrying food in Palos Park in 1986 (Bohlen 1989). In Indiana, breeders were once common in swamps across the north during 1900, and the last breeding record was in 1983 from Fayette Co. (Mumford and Keller 1984) with occasional, recent observations of singing males (Zadar 2004). In Iowa, the last documented nesting record was in 1988 in Lee Co. (Cecil 1996).

Northern Midwest: Highest breeding densities for entire population now occur in central Minnesota west of a line between Duluth and Minneapolis (excepting the prairies) and in adjacent nw. Wisconsin. Trend maps from Breeding Bird Survey show strong declines nearing extirpation in central and s. Wisconsin, almost all of Michigan except the western tip of the Upper Peninsula, and se. Minnesota (Sauer et al. 2008).

Wisconsin: Initially found throughout the state with nesting records in the southeast (Racine Co.) in 1880s (Hoy 1885), and perhaps more common near Lake Michigan up to the 1950s. Becoming a rare summer resident in s. Wisconsin though fairly common in central and northern counties by the 1990s (Robbins 1991). Now largely confined to the northern half of the state (http://www.uwgb.edu/birds/wbba/species/maps/GWWA.htm).  Areas of e. (near Lake Michigan) and w.-central Wisconsin that were occupied in mid-1900s now have few birds (Cutright et al. 2006).

Michigan: Well established in se. counties of Wayne and Monroe in 1880s (Hoy 1885) and likely more common in southeastern than in southwestern counties (Berger 1958). By 1950, considered common summer resident south of 44°N with nest records for most counties. By the early 1970s, moderately abundant in the central portion of the lower peninsula; by 1981, still moderately common in the northern portions of the lower peninsula but had declined in the southern tier of counties (Will 1986). Brewer et al. (1991) suggest that the highest concentration occurred in the n. Lower Peninsula with smaller numbers in both the Upper and s. Lower peninsulas. Recent surveys suggest breeding activity now largely restricted to the n. half of Lower Peninsula with increased abundance in the Upper Peninsula (McPeek 1994, Swarthout et al. 2009; http://www.mibirdatlas.org/Portals/12/MBA2010/GWWAaccount.pdf).

Minnesota: Resident primarily in the central part of the state by 1970s with scattered records in se. Minnesota prior to 1950s (Green and Janssen 1975). In the 1980s, the species began expanding into the ne. and north-central portions of the state (Janssen 1987). Minnesota now supports more breeding Golden-winged Warblers than any other state or province (Rosenberg and Blancher 2005), with greatest concentrations west of Duluth and Minneapolis (http://www.mnbba.org/blockmap/cresults.php?species=Golden-winged%20Warbler).

Ontario: Nested north of Lake Erie in the 1930s (Peck and James 1987), probably absent before. Expanded e. and n. to Toronto around 1950 and expanding into the southern edge of the Canadian Shield by the 1970s, now nesting from Sault Saint Marie to Ottawa. Currently declining to low numbers in sw. Ontario near Lake Erie (Mills 1988). Recent records near Lake of the Woods may reflect a range shift to the northwest (Vallender 2009). See also http://www.birdsontario.org/atlas/maps.jsp.

Quebec: Nests in s. Quebec along the Ontario border and the US border with New York and Vermont; usually found in early-successional forest habitat, in power line rights-of-way and in alder swamps and beaver meadows. The provincial population is estimated at 50 to 100 pairs. Numbers have been decreasing after peaking in the early 1990s (B. Jobin, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada).

Manitoba: Very rare resident in the 1950s in Manitoba (Berger 1958). By the 1990s, had increased in abundance and range, though some newly discovered populations may be a result of more comprehensive surveys in recent years. A survey in 2008-09 found 333 territories in Manitoba (Artuso et al. 2008), primarily in the south and southeast, with range expansion to the Manitoba Escarpment to the northwest (Cumming 1998) and regular records from Winnipeg east and south to Minnesota (http://www.birdatlas.mb.ca/mbdata/maps.jsp?lang=en).

Distribution of the Golden-winged Warbler - Range Map
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Distribution of the Golden-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler, Abundance map
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Golden-winged Warbler

Vermivora chrysoptera

Abundance

Relative abundance is depicted for each season along a color gradient from a light color indicating lower relative abundance to a dark color indicating a higher relative abundance. Relative abundance is the estimated average count of individuals detected by an eBirder during a 1 hour, 1 kilometer traveling checklist at the optimal time of day for each species.   Learn more about this data

Relative abundance
Breeding season
Jun 14 - Jul 26
0
0.07
0.42
Non-breeding season
Nov 8 - Mar 22
0
0.07
0.42
Pre-breeding migratory season
Mar 29 - Jun 7
0
0.07
0.42
Post-breeding migratory season
Aug 2 - Nov 1
0
0.07
0.42
Note: Seasonal ranges overlap and are stacked in the order above; view full range in season maps.
Seasons timeline
Learn more about seasons

Recommended Citation

Confer, J. L., P. Hartman, and A. Roth (2020). Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gowwar.01