Writing of warbler songs of early dawn, Dawson (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) indulges in the following flowery praise of the hermit’s sing: “There is Audubon with his hastening melody of gladness. There is Black-throated Gray with his still drowsy sonnet of sweet content. Then there is Hermit hidden aloft in the shapeless greenery of the under-dawn—his note is sweetest, gladdest, most seraphic of them all, lilly, lilly, lilly, leê-oleet. It is almost sacrilege to give it form—besides it is so hopeless. The preparatory notes are like the tinkle of crystal bells, and when our attention is focused, lo! the wonder happens, the exquisite lilt of the closing phrase, leê-oleet.”
Field marks.—The yellow head, the black throat, the dark back, and the white, unmarked under parts will distinguish the male in spring. The head of the female, of young birds, and of fall birds is also more or less yellowish and the back is more olivaceous. The two white wing bars are also common to several other species. Its song is said to be distinctive.
Fall.—The fall migration of the hermit warbler begins early. Bowles (1906) says that, in Washington, “about the middle of July both young and old assemble in good-sized flocks and frequent the water holes in the smaller growths of timber. At such times I have never seen them associating with any other kinds of birds.” W. W. Price wrote to Mr. Barlow (1901) of the migration in the Sierra Nevada:
The adults are very rare during June and July in the neighborhood of my camp at Silver Creek, but late in July and early in August a migration of the young birds of the year takes place and the species is very abundant everywhere in the tamaracks from about 6000 to 8000 feet. A hundred or more may be counted in an hour’s walk at my camp, 7000 feet, on Silver Creek. They are very silent, uttering now and then a ‘cheep,’ and always busy searching among the leaves and cones for insects. Among some fifty collected in the first week in August, 1896, there were only two or three adults. The young males have the most coloring, but they in no way approach adult plumage. These great flights of the hermit warbler are intermingled with other species, Hammond flycatcher, Calaveras and lutescent warblers, Cassin vireo, and sometimes Louisiana tanagers and red-brested nuthatches. Each year the flight has been noted, it comes without warning of storm or wind, and after a few days disappears to be seen no more.
In the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, according to Swarth (1904), “they reappeared in August, but at this time were seen only in the pines above 8500 feet. It is rather singular, and in contradiction to the idea that in the migrations the old birds go first in order to show the way, that the first secured in the fall was a young female, taken August 7th. The young birds then became very abundant, and on August 14th the first adult female was taken; and not until August 19th was an adult male seen. The adults then became nearly as abundant as the juveniles, and both together were more numerous than I have ever seen them in the spring, on several occasions as many as fifteen to twenty being seen in one flock.”
Winter.—Dr. Skutch writes to me: “The hermit warbler is a moderately abundant winter resident in the Guatemalan highlands, found chiefly between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level, but ranging downward to about 3,500 feet on the Pacific slope and possibly somewhat lower on the Caribbean slope, where pine forests push down into the upper levels of the Tropical Zone. These treetop birds are usually found in the mixed flocks of small birds, of which Townsend’s warblers form the predominant element. During the early part of their sojourn in Guatemala, I sometimes saw two, three, or more hermits in the same flock; but in February and March, there was as a rule only one. In 1933, I saw the last of these warblers on the Sierra de Tecpán on March 29, and recorded the first fall arrival on September 13, when four individuals were seen.”
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Western North America from Puget Sound to Nicaragua.
Breeding range.—The hermit warbler breeds north to northwestern Washington (Lake Crescent and Tacoma). East to the Cascades of Washington (Tacoma); Oregon (Prospect); and the Sierra Nevada in California (Meadow Valley, Pinecrest, Yosemite Valley, Taylor Meadow, and the San Bernardino Mountains). South to the San Bernardino Mountains and La Honda. West to the Pacific coast from central western California northward (La Honda, Cahto, and Garberville); western Oregon (Kerby and Tillamook); and northwestern Washington (Lake Crescent).
Winter range.—The hermit warbler has been found in winter north to central Mexico (Taxco, Cuernavaca, and Mexico City). East to Mexico City and central Guatemala (San Gerónimo and Alotepeque). South to southern Guatemala (Alotepeque); probably farther south since specimens have been taken at Los Esesmiles, El Salvador, and Metagalpa, Nicaragua. West to western Guatemala (Alotepeque, Tecpán, and Momostenango); western Oaxaca (La Parada); and northern Guerrero (Taxco).