Hermit Warbler

Many years ago, Erika and I took this photo of a Hermit Warbler in Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We were doing our college senior project, part of which included banding birds. This warbler breeds in the mountains of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. It winters in Mexico and Guatemala.

According to Pearson (2014) little is known about the Hermit Warbler’s biology. An exception is a good deal of research where its range overlaps with the Townsend’s Warbler in Oregon and Washington, where the two species are known to hybridize. In this zone, the Townsend’s Warbler replaces Hermit Warblers. Nevertheless, Breeding Bird Survey data suggest that overall Hermit Warbler numbers not declining.