Luckily, fledgling prothonotary warblers have a nifty ability to swim! Many an ornithologist has observed young prothonotaries zipping across the water to a safe log or other structure. Because the warbler usually nests within a few feet of the water's surface, flooding often accounts for substantial nest failure each year.Īlso, as poor-flying young fledge from a nest, they run the risk of landing in the water and becoming lunch for a turtle or a large-mouth bass. Nesting over water can have its down side, though. Insect food for the growing nestlings is also abundant in flooded areas, especially when millions of mayflies emerge and provide the warbler and many other birds with an "all-you-can-eat" buffet.
This special attraction to water may be due to a higher number of decaying trees with nest cavities in flooded areas and the added benefit of lower predation by mammals when the nest-site is located over water. Prothonotary warblers are rarely ever found far from some body of water, whether it be a slow running river or creek, a large wooded lake, their favorite flooded bottomland forests, or a low spot in the forest that maintains temporary standing water.Įven backyard ponds and swimming pools have attracted prothonotaries occasionally. Often times the cavity sites chosen are not very well enclosed, and prothonotaries on rare occasions have been found to use abandoned nests of open-nesting species, such as the red-winged blackbird.Ĭavity nest-sites are not the only habitat feature required by the species. Abandoned downy woodpecker holes are the most common nest sites, but the warbler will nest in a variety of natural cavities in dead branches, the broken top of a stump, or the "knee" of a cypress tree.Īs with most cavity-nesters, the availability of suitable nesting cavities is the most critical habitat requirement for breeding prothonotaries.īecause of this, the species has been known to choose a whole slew of interesting and strange nesting sites, including the pocket of an old coat, tin cans, and the pulley on an active ferry. The prothonotary is unique among the eastern warblers because it nests in holes in trees. The species name, citrea, refers to the lemon color of the bird. Once dubbed the “Golden Swamp Warbler” because of its partiality to flooded forests, this striking warbler acquired its current name from 18th century Louisiana Creoles who thought the bird's plumage resembled the golden robes of the protonotarius, a Catholic church official who advised the Pope.Įarly ornithologists had classified the warbler in the same genus as the waterthrushes, and later categorized the species as the sole member of its own genus, Protonotaria.
The bird lands, throws back its head and belts forth a sound to make the forest come alive- "Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet!" Welcome to the swampy realm of the prothonotary warbler. Suddenly, a flash of golden-yellow darts across the background of muted greens and browns. Quiet except for the buzz of a million mosquitoes and the sounds of occasional splashes and bubbles in the tea-stained water.
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