Swainson's Warbler

Overview

Swainson's Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with olive-brown upperparts and pale gray underparts. Head has brown cap, white eyebrows, and dark eye-lines. Wings are plain olive-brown. It hides in dense thickets, where it forages on the ground looking for insects, spiders, and caterpillars.

Range and Habitat

Swainson's Warbler: In southeast U.S., lives in canebrakes and thickets in swamps and among hardwoods; in the southern Appalachians it is found in laurel and rhododendron thickets of moist, montane forests.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Swainson's Warbler is unusual for its two populations breeding in entirely different habitat types.
If it weren't for its loud, ringing song, its presence in many areas would go completely undetected.
It is named after William Swainson, an early-19th-century British naturalist.
A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.