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The Cape May Warbler is named from the first place a specimen was collected, Cape May, New Jersey, where it is still a common migrant. Preferring deciduous forests, they are usually found in spruce trees, especially the white spruce in the Algonquin Highlands.
Male Cape May Warblers are yellow below and on the neck and rump, with a chestnut cheek patch, white wing patch, and heavy black streaks on the underside. Females are much duller, with a greenish-yellow neck patch. Their song consists of 4 or more high thin notes, all with the same pitch and volume.
Quite scarce most of the time, the Cape May Warbler flourishes with an outbreak of spruce budworm caterpillars, their preferred food source. Birds are found in great numbers, even nesting twice in one season due to the abundance of food for nesting. These outbreaks last for 3 to 4 years, when the warblers will once again return to low population levels. Building compact nests of twigs and moss, lined with grass, fur, and feathers, the Cape May Warbler will lay around 4 brown-spotted white eggs. A migrating bird, they spend the winter in the south.
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CAPE MAY WARBLER
Dendroica tigrina
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