Apple Warbler
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Apple
Warbler, Setophaga
malusnider L 12 cm, WS 16-20 cm, Family: Parulidae
IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)
Description:
Small,
active songbird with large head. Olive upperparts and yellowish undersides,
with rufous crown and a rufous streak pattern on upper breast. White eyeline
and green ear patch. Stout, straight bill and large dark eyes, pinkish legs. Females
similar, but duller overall. Reddish breast spots and crown best distinguish
the Apple from other native warblers.
Voice:
Song
is a series of clear, sweet, high whistles, usually around 10 notes, which
decelerates and lowers in pitch, like a bouncing ball. The song, and individual
notes, are crisp and musical, more-so than other endemic warblers. A variety of
calls include quick chirps and buzzy chips, but the most common is a short,
fast metallic tink.
Range and Habitat:
Summer
range encompasses the entirety of Novasola, including Kosatka and Francis
Islands. Migrates to spend winter in California and the southwestern US.
Habitat requirements more general than other native warblers, can be found in
most ecosystem types with woody vegetation like conifer, deciduous, and mixed forests,
shrublands, and wetlands, and prefers thickets and disturbed areas, especially
riparian areas. Can often be found in willow, aspen, alder, or cottonwood
stands. Avoids elevations above 7,000 feet.
Discussion:
The
sweet notes of the Apple Warbler’s song are a familiar sound of Novasolan
spring and summer, from wild forests and chaparral to orchards and roadsides,
from prairie riverbanks to city ponds. Perhaps the most well known Novasolan
warbler, it is usually the most easily observed, which coupled with their
musical warbles and earthy yellow color palette make them a popular summertime
bird.
Apple
Warblers eat mostly insects and other invertebrates which they catch mid-flight
or pick from foliage like the undersides of leaves. Their preferred food
sources include caterpillars, ants, beetles, and bees, and they often forage in
the mid-canopy, in shrubs, small trees, or lower branches. However, males will
sing from high points like the tops of trees.
Though
Apple Warblers winter off the island, they breed on Novasola, arriving in late May
and leaving in mid- to late August. When males arrive in the summer they establish
territories, which they do mostly through song, which they also use to attract
mates. It is common to hear multiple neighboring males singing back and forth over
one another. Apple Warblers will also defend territories aggressively from
other species. The warblers form monogamous pairs, but often pair with new
individuals each breeding season. They build nests in areas of dense
vegetation, often at eight to ten feet off the ground in large shrubs like
rhododendron, madrone, and dogwood.
Despite
the common theory that Apple Warblers are named for their fruity-colored
plumage, which evokes the colors of apples, they are actually named for their
habit of nesting in orchards. Richard Reichwald, who first described the bird
scientifically, acquired the first specimen from a nest in an apple orchard. Indeed,
its species name malusnider translates from Latin to “nests in apples”. Since
European settlement of Novasola, Apple Warblers have adapted to and taken
advantage of orchards and plantations which provide safe nesting grounds with
ample insect food sources, and much of their diets in these areas are made up
of fruit worms.
Warblers
were among the groups of birds observed by the NRC that no other member apart
from Reichwald made any reference to. We know from Reichwald that the group, or
at least he, had observed hundreds of warblers, and that the Apple Warbler was
one of the most common, and that some other members even brought Reichwald
specimens, yet no writings exist that note this. Unlike the Corps, birders and
outdoor enthusiasts alike are charmed by the Apple Warbler’s beauty and
ubiquity.
“I
have observed great numbers of this bird along the banks of all the territory’s
major fast-waters, but nowhere does the Apple Warbler seem to favor more than
the fertile lands surrounding the Twin Rivers. Indeed, there seems at times a
shortage of space in that basin, such that males of the species may be heard
defending with their song territories no larger than one hundred meters across,
and often smaller. Certainly some birds must have felt malcontent for their
congestion of neighbors and moved away, for among warblers the Apple is the
most widespread and general in needs, comfortable in any country from forest to
field to stream or bayside, so long as some wood might provide the area with
structure. This bird exhibits a peculiar fascination with man’s plantings,
often satisfied to build nests among the fruit orchards across the south. This
very preference is certainly what accounts for their numbers in the Twin
Rivers, and I would be surprised to learn that this boom in population extends
not also to the wineries and plantations of the Fairweather Sound country.” – Native
Birds of Novasola, 1912
“A
consensus has been reached by our cartographers this afternoon which had
already been accepted by the rest of the Corpsmen for two days now that we have
exhausted our route up the Kusasha and must now abandon that river and begin
our overland march to the headwaters of the Massalick. This news was only
surprising to those who have been absent from the journey thus far, which is to
say anyone here with half the wits of a hound knew already we can no longer
navigate the Kusasha, considering we have been marching on foot along both
sides of the mighty, two-foot-wide river since it was double the width. The
further we walk the more this stream, or rather this trickle, is swallowed by
the increasingly dense alder, stands of which are so thick there is not room
for an infant, and we have had to take wide detours with our boats.
…
An
upside to this area is the abundance of birdlife. Perhaps of most interest to
me are the many warblers I have observed and heard during this hike, of at
least three varieties, all of which yellow. Having not yet gotten a good look
at any, I have relied so far only on song to differentiate them. I don’t know
whether this area is particularly dense with warblers when compared to other
stretches of the Fastwaters, as it seems, but I am hopeful I should get the
chance to study them in great detail.” – Expedition log, May 29, 1902
“That
warbler which has so far eluded my grasp but so often serenaded me from the
treetops across the island has finally come into my possession in the form of a
male carcass. Stocky for a warbler, it is golden overall with a rust-colored
head and divided breast band, and with an olive back and auriculars. This
individual was killed when our host, Mr. Warton, felled one of his apple trees.
The bird, and no doubt its mate, had built their nest in the tree and Mr.
Warton tells me this is commonplace on his farm. Upon this news I went out to
the orchard and indeed, I have observed at least two other pairs of the warbler
nesting in the apples.” – Expedition log, May 9, 1903