Magnolia Warbler

Continuing to share my warbler photos along with information about each species, from my latest book: "Warblers of Arizona, A Guide to Finding and Photographing Warblers in Southern Arizona." 

If you are interested in purchasing it, please email me at exclusivelywildlifephotos.com or info@azuregate.com.

Magnolia Warbler

Common Name: Magnolia Warbler

Scientific Name: Setophaga magnolia

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Conservation Status: Least Concern, stable or increasing population estimated at 40 million

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Size: 5.1 inches

Description: gray crown and nape; black upperback; gray lower back; yellow rump; black mask; white supercilium; white undereye arc; yellow breast and belly with black streaks attached to black neck band; whitish lower belly; broad white wing patch; small black bill; black tail with broad white base

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Male/Female: female lacks the black mask and white supercilium, also has two white wing bars versus the broad white wing patch

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Range: Northwest Territories to Nova Scotia south to Panama; from the Atlantic Ocean to the Dakotas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and East Texas

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Migration: winters in Central America, summers in Canada, migrates through the Eastern United States

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Season for Arizona: very rare to Arizona, only 12 records with none during the summer (when they should be in Canada)

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Habitat: breeds in small conifers, but during migration and winter occupies a broad range of habitats from sea level to 4500 feet and most terrains, the one pictured here was near and on the ground in dense brush near water

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Community Behavior: solitary

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Feeding Behavior: gleans insects primarily from the undersides of conifer needles and broadleaf foliage

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Diet: Insects, larvae and adult, also spiders, may eat berries if insects are scarce

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Nesting Behavior: loose cup of grasses on foundation of twig usually on a horizontal tree branch near the trunk and less than 10 feet off the ground, 3-5 white eggs with brown spots, incubation is 11-13 days, young leave nest after 9-10 days, young fed by both parents even after leaving nest (up to 25 more days)

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Where to Find in Southern Arizona: must look if/when reported in ABA Birding News or Audubon’s Rare Bird alert, photos here taken in Tanque Verde Wash (December 2013); a Magnolia Warbler was reported in Portal and in Avra Valley in 2017

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Comments: named by Alexander Wilson who collected a specimen from a magnolia tree in Mississippi, a little easier to find (in its normal range and season) because it stays in shrubs and small trees