“The species sings throughout migration, and on the breeding grounds till late July. At that season I have seen males still singing while feeding young just out of the nest.”
Enemies.—Dr. Friedmann (1929) writes; “This bird is practically free from that greatest enemy of most of the warblers, the Cowbird. Occasionally, however, parasitic eggs are found in the dainty pensile nests of the Parula Warbler. Stone found a nest on May 26, 1892, at Cape May Point, New Jersey, containing three eggs of the Warbler and one of the Cowbird. * * * Five other records have come to my notice, from Long Island, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and the bird is listed as a victim of the Cowbird by several writers, as Bendire, Davie, and Chapman.” Mrs. Nice (1931) records two more cases in Oklahoma.
Harold S. Peters (1936) records two lice, Myrsidea incerta (Kellogg) and Ricinius sp., as external parasites on this species.
Field marks.—The parula, is one of our smallest warblers. The adult male is well marked, with its blue upper parts, the yellow back being inconspicuous, two conspicuous white wing bands, black lores, yellow breast and chestnut or blackish throat band. The female is duller in all colors, more greenish above and has little or no throat band. Young birds are even less conspicuously marked, as noted in the description of plumages.
Fall.—As soon as the young are strong on the wing the family parties desert their breeding grounds, and after the molting season is finished they resort to the deciduous woods and join the migrating hosts of warblers and other small birds drifting southward through the tree-tops or along the roadside shade trees. The fall migration is apparently a reversal of the springtime routes, as they travel to their winter haunts in Mexico and the West Indies. Professor Cooke (1904) says that this warbler “passes through Florida in countless thousands, being second only to the black-throated blue warbler in the frequency with which it strikes the lighthouses. * * * By the middle of September the great flights begin and continue in full force for a month.”
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Southern Canada to Nicaragua and the West Indies.
Breeding range.—The Parula warbler breeds north to southern Manitoba (Shoal Lake and Caddy Lake); central Ontario (Off Lake, Rossport, and Lake Abitibi); and southern Quebec (Lake Timiskaming, Blue Sea Lake, Gaspé Peninsula, and Anticosti Island). East to Anticosti Island (Fox Bay); Prince Edward Island (Tignish); Nova Scotia (Halifax and Yarmouth); and the Atlantic coast south to central Florida (Deer Park, Lake Gentry, and St. Lucie). South to central Florida (St. Lucie, Bull Creek Swamp, and Tarpon Springs) and the Gulf coast to south-central Texas (Houston and San Antonio). West to central Texas (San Antonio and Kerrville); eastern Oklahoma (Caddo, red Oak, and Copan); eastern Kansas (Neosha Falls, Topeka, and Leavenworth); central Iowa (Des Moines); north-central Minnesota (Cass Lake and Itasca); and southeastern Manitoba (Shoal Lake).
Winter range.—The parula warbler winters north to southern Tamaulipas (Tampico); occasionally southern Florida (Tarpon Springs, Sanibel Island, and Miami); the Bahamas Islands (Nassau and Caicos); Hispaniola (Tortue Island and Samaná); Puerto Rico; the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas); and the Lesser Antilles (Saba). East to the Lesser Antilles (Saba, St. Christopher, Guadaloupe, and Barbados). South to the Lesser Antilles (Barbados); Jamaica (Kingston); and Nicaragua (Río Escondido). West to Nicaragua (Río Escondido); El Salvador (Barra de Santiago); western Guatemala (San José and Escuintla); southern Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); Veracruz (Tlacotalpan); and Tamaulipas (Tampico).