Summary

  • Natural history: As Vermont’s smallest warbler, the Northern Parula avoids competing with the larger warblers sharing its habitat by specializing in gleaning insects from the very tips of branches. It builds its nest by hollowing out a hanging clump of tree lichen called old man’s beard, the same specialized nesting strategy that leads it to use Spanish moss farther south. The bird’s range has a curious gap running through southern New England and New Jersey, a stretch where decades of air pollution stripped host trees of the lichens this warbler depends on, so its rebounding numbers in Vermont may hint that lichens are recovering as air quality improves and forests mature.
  • Status in VT: Increased by 24% (62 to 77 blocks). Greatest increase in Southern Vermont Piedmont.
  • Data from other research: No additional data for VT.
  • Conservation status: State rank S4B
  • Other atlases: NY: 51%; PA: 122%; ON: sig. increase in province as a whole, especially in Northern and Southern Shield.
  • VT’s role in North American range: VT is within the core of the range.
  • Causes of change since first Atlas: Forest maturation and/or reduction in air pollution may have led to increase in nest substrate (epiphytic lichens) (?).
  • Management/Monitoring recommendations:No current recommendations.

Population TrendsNorthern Parula graph

First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)

Species Account

Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)

Species Account

Northern Parula Map 1Northern Parula Table 1Northern Parula Table 2

Change in Distribution

mapkeyNorthern Parula Map 2Northern Parula Table 3

Links

Vermont eBird

Encyclopedia of Life

All About Birds