Cerulean Warbler Dendroica cerulea

Description: Males cerulean blue above with white wing bars, white underneath with dark breast band, dark streaks along sides. Females have greenish mantle, bluish-green crown, pale eyebrow; breast and throat yellowish.

Song: A short, accelerating series of buzzy notes ascending to a high, prolonged buzz. Recording Produced by: Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Distribution: Breeding range concentrated in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, with some recent expansions north and northeast to Piedmont plateau and Atlantic coastal plains. Breeds in large tracts of old growth deciduous forests, usually along rivers, streams, swamps, though also in upland mature forests. Winters primarily in South America, particularly eastern Andes foothills from Venzuela south. A trans-Gulf migrant, with peak counts along the Gulf occuring during mid- to late April, reaching northerly breeding areas in early May.

Status: Uncommon over most of range. The most precipitously declining warbler, especially in Ohio, Mississippi, and lower Missouri river valleys due to conversion of breeding habitat to farmland.

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