Hooded Warbler

Hooded Warbler (male)

Hooded Warbler
Setophaga citrina

Family: (Parulidae) Wood-Warblers

Preferred Habitat: Mature, moist woodlands and wooded swamps

Seasonal Occurrence: Common in spring; uncommon summer through fall. Breeds on the Upper Texas Coast in dense undergrowth.

Profile by Spencer Poling: Male Hooded Warblers are hard to mistake, sporting a balaclava-like black hood and throat. However, females have a hood that can vary on a spectrum from just as full as a male, to nearly absent. With an absent hood, they may look very plain, with a yellow face and breast, and olive-green back and crown. Listen for their song in the spring and summer, which sounds like “wheeta, wheeta, wheatio!”

Like the other early-migrating warblers, Hooded Warblers don’t travel as far to breed. Their winter range is relatively close to Texas, allowing them to pass through first and claim breeding territory up north before other species arrive. Their breeding range is wide, spanning the mature forest understories throughout much of the southern and eastern United States. They aren’t picky about where they nest and will use both native and invasive plants. This presents a challenge: since Hooded Warblers are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, any invasive shrubs hosting their nests cannot be removed until the breeding season concludes.

If you’ve ever noticed a Hooded Warbler’s white outer tail feathers, they actually serve a unique purpose, helping them hunt for insects, which make up most of their diet. They will flick their tail feathers out, creating a flash of white that startles nearby insects, causing them to fly out into the open. Just as you can identify a Palm Warbler by its tail bobbing, you can easily spot a Hooded Warbler by its tail flashing.

Hooded Warblers can be found in any forested Houston Audubon sanctuary in the spring and fall. In the summer, they have been reported in Houston Audubon’s northernmost sanctuary, Winters Bayou, so you can potentially find them breeding there. In any of these seasons, look out for buggy areas with a dense understory, and you may find them flashing their white tails or singing their iconic song.

Hooded Warbler (female)

Profile by Sarah Lefoley: Spring (written in March, 2020) has arrived, and so have Hooded Warblers. You may have noticed this beautiful warbler hopping about and flashing its light-edged tail feathers in shrubs near you. The males of this species are yellow, have a darker yellow back and tail, and a distinct black “hood.” The females and immature birds are less distinguishable, possessing a darker yellow crown instead of a hood. Females and immature birds have pale pink bills, rather than the black bills of the mature males. Males will move out of the shadows of the forest understory to sing a song that sounds like “weeta weeta weeta weetee a” to some.

One male and one female normally occupy and defend a territory together during breeding season. Males defend their territories from other males by spreading their wings out, tucking their heads down, and moving their heads side to side before chasing or attacking the intruder. Males will often mate with other females besides their partner.

Hooded warbler nests are often parasitized by cowbirds. Parent Hooded Warblers divide the work of caring for their young, with the mother caring for half of the chicks and the father caring for the other half. The Hooded Warbler’s diet consists of insects such as moths, beetles, grasshoppers, flies, and small spiders. They will either pick the insects off of the ground and leaves or will catch them in the air. Because Hooded Warblers are insectivorous, they will use the shrubs, trees, and water sources in your yard if they happen to visit you this migration.

All About Birds

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Hooded Warbler (male)

Hooded Warbler (immature)

Hooded Warbler (male)

Follow Us