Summary

  • Natural history: Unlike other wood-warblers, the Pine Warbler depends specifically on pine trees for breeding, and it was considered a genuinely rare bird in Vermont in the early 1900s before slowly building up to today’s still-uncommon, patchy presence. Its gains track the maturation of pines that took root in abandoned farm fields over the twentieth century, and national forest inventory data show that the volume of large pine timber in Vermont more than doubled between 1983 and 2007. Those same surveys, however, found a drop in smaller, younger pines over the same period, suggesting that the Pine Warbler’s expansion in Vermont could slow or even reverse in the coming decades.
  • Status in VT: Increased by 193% (14 to 41 blocks). Greatest increases in Northern Vermont Piedmont and Southern Green Mountains.
  • Data from other research: No additional data for VT.
  • Conservation status: State rank S4B
  • Other atlases:NY: 220%; MD: 7%
  • VT’s role in North American range: VT lies within the northeastern corner of the range.
  • Causes of change since first Atlas: Maturation of pines since mid-20th century; population increases in neighboring states.
  • Management/Monitoring recommendations: Stewardship of pine forest habitats to maintain open understory.

Population Trends

Pine Warbler graph

First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)

Species Account

Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)

Species Account

Pine Warbler Map 1Pine Warbler Table 1Pine Warbler Table 2

Change in Distribution

mapkeyPine Warbler Map 2Pine Warbler Table 3

Links

Vermont eBird

Encyclopedia of Life

All About Birds