Avivorous (bird-eating) birds, especially hawks like the Broad-Winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) and the Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) attack adult Myrtle Warblers.
Myrtle Warbler eggs and nestlings are attacked by a variety of animals, including:
Myrtle Warblers can be infected by haemosporidian (blood-inhabiting protozoan) parasites, which are transmitted by biting flies like Black Flies (family Simuliidae).
Unlike most birds, Myrtle Warblers can digest wax.
This adaptation allows Myrtle Warblers to feed on berries that other birds can’t digest, such as Wax Myrtle berries.
Myrtle Warblers are also unusually versatile in how they catch insects.
They use a variety of tactics to catch insects, including:
Leaf gleaning: plucking insects from foliage,
Bark gleaning: hunting for insects on surface of tree bark,
Ground feeding: snatching insects off the ground,
Air sallying (also called flycatching): taking off from a perch to snatch flying insects from the air.
When You’re Blow Off Course, Course Correct
Despite being able to live farther north in the winter than other warblers, Myrtle Warblers still migrate south long distances in the autumn.
As such, the prevailing northwesterly wings that occur in eastern North America during autumn can push these little birds off course to the east and out towards open ocean.
Sometimes, individual birds can end up over 1000 miles (1600 kilometers) off-course from their original flight path.
Birds that have blown off course have a few options. They can:
Continue to orient in the same direction they were going before they were displaced,
Orient from the new location towards the previous destination, or
Course correct so they regain their original pathway.
Young Myrtle Warblers migrating for the first time dealt with being blown off course by flying more west-northwesterly (more perpendicular to the expected migratory direction) to regain their preferred, original pathway (Fitzgerald and Taylor 2008, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0579-3).
While very closely related, the Myrtle Warbler (and the western sub-species Audubon’s Warbler) lives a different lifestyle than the two sub-species found in Central America.
Myrtle and Audubon’s Warblers migrate.
Black-Fronted Warblers and Goldman’s Warblers are sedentary; any seasonal movement in which they might engage only covers short distances.
Their lifestyle differences have resulted in slight differences in the size and shape of their wings and feathers.
Compared to the sedentary Black-Fronted and Goldman’s Warblers, the migratory Myrtle and Audubon’s Warblers:
Are smaller overall,
Have longer, more concave, and more pointed wings,
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Christine
Christine is the creator and author of NowIWonder.com, a website dedicated to the animals and plants that share our world, and the science that helps us understand them. Inspired by lifelong exploration and learning, Christine loves to share her knowledge with others who want to connect with wild faces and wild spaces.
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