Orange-crowned Warbler

Vermivora celata
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Uncommon migrant in various habitat types throughout campus. May breed in woodland and scrub near the Dish.
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F?
I: 12-14 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
0 - 3 feet
F?
4-5
(3-6)
MONOG
F: 8-10 DAYS
MF(?)
FRUIT
NECTAR
TREE SAP
BREEDING: Decid and decid-conif woodland, chaparral, riparian woodland. ? broods.
DISPLAYS: ?
NEST: Usu hidden on ground, but in s CA (occ elsewhere) low in shrub or vine; of coarse grass, bark strips, lined with fine materials.
EGGS: White, marked with reds or browns; often mostly at large end. 0.6 (16 mm).
DIET: Includes berries, plant galls.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to Guatemala. Rare cowbird host. Occ visits hummingbird feeders.
NOTES: Widespread and fairly common (esp in w) but many details of breeding biology largely unknown. Regularly feeds at Red-naped Sapsucker wells. Often feeds on floral nectar in tropical wintering areas. Reproduction by blood-feeding lice found only on Orange-crowns is triggered by the birds' own reproductive hormones; synchronized breeding by parasites and their hosts maximizes dispersal opportunities for lice onto uninfected hosts (i.e., nestlings).
ESSAYS: Birds in the Bush; Disease and Parasitism; Bills; Mobbing; How Do We Find Out About Bird Biology?
REFERENCES: Foster, 1969; Harrison, 1984.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).