Distribution

Breeding Range

Figure 1 . Yellow Warbler (aestiva group) breeds in North America to limits of shrub vegetation south of tundra from nw. and n.-central Alaska (west to Unimak I. in Aleutians, to 166°W on Seward Peninsula, and north to Brooks Range; Kessel and Gibson 1978), n. Yukon (Arctic coast, Old Crow, Lapierre House; Godfrey 1986), nw. and central Mackenzie (Mackenzie delta, Richards I., Ft. Anderson, Bathurst Inlet, Reliance; Godfrey 1986), n. Saskatchewan (Lake Athabasca, Black Lake area, Reindeer Lake; Godfrey 1986), n. Manitoba (Lynn Lake, Churchill; Godfrey 1986), n. Ontario (throughout), central Quebec (Lake Saint-Jean and North Shore regions, as far north as Lake Guillaume Delisle and Great Whale R., Anticosti I., Magdalen Is.; Gauthier 1996), s. Labrador (Grand Falls, Holton Harbour, Goose Bay; Todd 1963, Godfrey 1986) and throughout Newfoundland (Godfrey 1986). Breeds south to nw. Baja California Norte (El Rosario; Am. Ornithol. Union 1957), through interior and w. Pacific slope of Mexico (Sonora and Chihuahua to n. Guerrero, Puebla, and se. San Luis Potosí; Howell and Webb 1995), to central Oklahoma (Dunn and Garrett 1997), n. Arkansas (north of line connecting Crawford, Pulaski, and St. Francis Cos.; James and Neal 1986), central Alabama (in Tennessee River Valley and south to Jefferson Co.; some records further south in Autauga and Lee Cos.; Imhof 1976), n. Georgia, nw. South Carolina, central North Carolina, and Virginia (Dunn and Garrett 1997). Occurrence fragmented and local in sw. U.S. where limited to riparian corridors. In the sw. U.S. largely absent from the Central Valley and southern and eastern desert areas of California, central and s. Nevada, w. Utah, n. and w. New Mexico, and all but northernmost New Mexico. In other parts of the U.S. also absent from portions of w. Wyoming, portions of central Colorado, w. Kansas, w. Kentucky, w. Tennessee, and portions of e. Virginia (Dunn and Garrett 1997).

Among the Neotropical, non-migratory subspecies, the Golden Warbler (petechia group) is resident from extreme s. Florida (in mangrove stands of Florida Keys and around Florida Bay in Dade, Monroe, and s. Collier Cos.; Stevenson and Anderson 1994) and Bahama Is. south throughout the West Indies (to St. Lucia, Barbados, and Grenadine Is. in the east and Cayman, Providencia, and San Andrés Is. in the west) to islands off northern coast of Venezuela (from Aruba and Curaçao east to Isla de Margarita) and on mainland ne. Venezuela in w. Sucre and Anzoátegui; also on Cozumel I. off Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico (Am. Ornithol. Union 1998). Not present on some islands or portions of island groups in the West Indies (Raffaele et al. 1998) and not resident on Trinidad or Tobago (contra several references).

Mangrove Warbler (erithachorides group) resident from s. Baja California (both coasts north to 27°N; e.g., Estero la Bocana and Laguna San Ignacio on Pacific coast), Sonora (Tepopa Bay) and s. Tamaulipas, Mexico, south along both coasts of Middle America (including Bay I. off Honduras) to e. Panama (on Pacific coast east only to w. Darién, but including Escudo, Coiba, and Pearl Is.), along western coast of South America from nw. Colombia south to central Peru, on Cocos I. (off Costa Rica) and Galápagos Archipelago, and east along northern coast of Colombia to n.-central Venezuela (Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón, east to Aragua). Vagrant to Texas (2 records) and Revillagigedo Is. off w. Mexico (Howell and Webb 1995, Am. Ornithol. Union 1998).

Winter Range

Figure 1 . Yellow Warbler (aestiva group) winters primarily from n. Mexico (s. Baja California Sur and along coasts from s. Sonora and s. Tamaulipas south to s. Mexico, and from central Oaxaca and s. Veracruz, Mexico, south throughout Middle America) to South America (mostly east of Andes) to Amazon lowlands of n. Bolivia (Paynter 1995) and Amazonian Brazil (Chaves, Bôa Vista on Rio Branco, and Manaus; Stotz et al. 1992), including most insular areas within this range, and to central Peru (Dpto. Junín and Loreto; Paynter 1995; see also Dunn and Garrett 1997). Also found in lesser numbers from California (about 8 records/yr in north; about 25 records/yr in south, most lower Colorado River Valley and Coachella and Imperial valleys; Small 1984), sw. Arizona (2 late Dec specimens along Colorado River; Phillips et al. 1964); s. Florida (as north as Brevard Co.; Stevenson and Anderson 1994) and Greater Antilles (“a few”; Raffaele et al. 1998). Scattered winter records north to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, s. Ontario, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Most of these records for Dec but Ontario and Pennsylvania records for Jan, and West Virginia record for Feb (Dunn and Garrett 1997, L. Bevier pers. comm.).

Golden and Mangrove warblers are resident within their ranges as described under Breeding range, above.

In Europe, rare vagrant in fall (Aug–Nov). At least 2 records for w. Greenland, 1 for Iceland (Dunn and Garrett 1997); and 4 records from 1971 to 1990 in Britain (Evans 1994). All were of the highly migratory aestiva group.

Patterns of population density have probably been in flux since European settlement of North America altered original vegetation. Clearing forests in e. North America is a factor for potential increase in numbers (Erskine 1992, Palmer-Ball 1996), but draining of wetlands perhaps has greater overall decreasing effect (DAS).

No large-scale changes documented across North American breeding range (see also Demography and populations: population status, below). Populations in sw. U.S. (especially subspecies D. p. sonorana, found from se. California to w. Texas) formerly common on major rivers (e.g., Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers) but this species has become very localized since 1960s; attributed to loss of riparian habitats due to channelization, overgrazing or replacement of vegetation with salt cedar (Tamarisk gallica; Taylor and Littlefield 1986, Ohmart 1994, Dunn and Garrett 1997). Populations in California declined throughout state since 1930s with loss of habitat and more notably since 1950s (Small 1994). Recent surveys along lower Colorado River Valley in se. California, however, have found more birds than expected, and these breeding successfully in salt cedar (R. McKernan pers. comm.). Extirpated as breeder from n. Texas (north of 29°N) since 1960s, most likely due to loss of riparian habitat (Oberholser 1974).

Golden Warbler apparently colonized s. Florida relatively recently; first found at one of the Bay Keys off Key West in 1941; these identified as Cuban subspecies, D. p. gundlachi, rather than D. p. flaviceps from Bahama Is. (Greene 1942, Stevenson and Anderson 1994).

No information.