Chestnut-sided Warbler
General Description
Breeding adults have a yellowish crown, black eye line and mustache mark, dark wings with two pale-yellow wing-bars, chestnut on the sides, white underparts, and a streaked back. Immature (first-fall) birds are much plainer, with a greenish crown and back, gray underparts, and a prominent white eye-ring. Fall adults are similar to immatures but usually show some chestnut on the sides.
Chestnut-sided Warblers nest in forests from eastern Alberta across southern Canada to Nova Scotia, the upper Midwest and northeastern U.S., and southward along the Appalachian spine. They winter in southern Mexico and Central America, migrating mostly east of the Great Plains and in direct flight across the Gulf of Mexico. However, this is one of the commoner “eastern” warblers encountered in the West. British Columbia has many records from all regions of the province, including confirmed breeding. Idaho has about 30 records equally divided between spring and fall. The species occurs just about annually in Oregon, with spring records outnumbering fall records by about 3:1. Washington shows a similar early-season bias, with 14 of 17 accepted records in June and the first half of July and the remaining three from late August to October. Twelve of these records are from east of the Cascade crest and five are from the westside lowlands.
Revised October 2007
North American Range Map
Family Members
- Blue-winged WarblerVermivora pinus
- Golden-winged WarblerVermivora chrysoptera
- Tennessee WarblerVermivora peregrina
- Orange-crowned WarblerVermivora celata
- Nashville WarblerVermivora ruficapilla
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Yellow WarblerDendroica petechia
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Cape May WarblerDendroica tigrina
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
- Yellow-rumped WarblerDendroica coronata
- Black-throated Gray WarblerDendroica nigrescens
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Townsend's WarblerDendroica townsendi
- Hermit WarblerDendroica occidentalis
- Blackburnian WarblerDendroica fusca
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
- Prairie WarblerDendroica discolor
- Palm WarblerDendroica palmarum
- Bay-breasted WarblerDendroica castanea
- Blackpoll WarblerDendroica striata
- Black-and-white WarblerMniotilta varia
- American RedstartSetophaga ruticilla
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- Kentucky WarblerOporornis formosus
- Mourning WarblerOporornis philadelphia
- MacGillivray's WarblerOporornis tolmiei
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Hooded WarblerWilsonia citrina
- Wilson's WarblerWilsonia pusilla
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens