WatchList Species Account for Virginia’s Warbler (Vermivora virginiae)

Qualifies for the list as a Rare Yellow List Species

Photo: © Bill Schmoker

Virginia’s Warbler, a small, gray bird which breeds in drought-tolerant xeric pinyon-juniper and oak woodland often on steep slopes of the southwestern Rocky Mountains, is retiring and not easy to observe. Found primarily at elevations of 2-3,000 m, it breeds from south-central Idaho, Nevada, Utah anc Colorado, south into New Mexico and Arizona, with outlier populations in South Dakota’s Black Hills and in Texas in the Guadalupe and Davis Mountains. It winters in southwestern Mexico. Basic information on its distribution, population, and natural history is lacking.

In breeding areas where the Brown-headed Cowbird is present, the warbler’s nests are heavily parasitized, severely reducing its reproductive success. Where the warbler is most abundant, in the pinyon-juniper woodlands of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, it is one of the commonest breeding birds in the avian community. However its limited breeding habitat, vulnerability to human disturbance, and limited abundance in much of its range, makes it a species of conservation concern. A ground-nester, controlled burning to remove the combustible understory has a significantly negative effect on this bird, reducing the number of nests on treated areas severely. The potential of human alteration of habitat on its Mexican wintering grounds needs investigation.