Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea)

Cerulean Warbler [lateral view of alternate-plumaged adult male]: Photograph Credit: Copyright Dave Hawkins Photo, Nashville, Tennessee; Edgar Evins State Rustic Park, DeKalb County, Tennessee; 25 May 2008.

Abundance: Uncommon; recorded in 25 Regional counties (unrecorded in Clinton County, Kentucky, despite fairly intensive foray effort there during June 2009) (Map of UCR Distribution); decreasing precipitously since at least mid-1960s with cause(s) of decrease imprecisely determined though suspected to include loss of habitat in winter range (Nicholson 2004) (see alsoRegional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Summer Resident; not designated as a species of conservation concern by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (2004), but this omission should  be rectified; designated as in need of management by the Tennessee Division of Natural Heritage (2004); specimen (8 June 1938; Rockybranch, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940); photograph (see above).

Regional High Count: 106 (4 June 1994; Frozen Head State Natural Area; Morgan County, Tennessee; Stephen J. Stedman); SBC/SBB High Count: 49 (12 May 2001; Putnam County, Tennessee [SBC]; m. ob.).

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: 3 April 2012 (DeKalb County, Tennessee; Melinda Welton).

    Late Fall: 21 September 2005 (Morgan County, Tennessee; Barbara H. Stedman).

    Note: The earliest arriving Ceruleans are usually found at breeding sites by 12–18 April, and the species becomes widespread by 30 April; most of the population departs the Region extremely early, often not being detected after 15 August.  Regional dates of earliest reported spring arrival and latest reported fall departure for each year during the decade of 2002–2011 follow:

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent). See Nicholson (2004) for many particulars relating to the breeding of this species in the Cumberland Mountains.

Habitat: Steep hillsides with mature deciduous forest, especially where tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a dominant or co-dominant, are highly attractive to this warbler; riparian corridors with mature forest, attract it more sparingly in the Region.  The escarpment between the Highland Rim and the Central Basin offers much of the former habitat, and populations of this warbler are fairly dense in the counties harboring this habitat on this landform. However, the steep, wooded slopes in Frozen Head State Natural Area—located in Morgan County, Tennessee, in the Cumberland Mountains—formerly harbored the densest breeding population in the Region and may still hold that distinction (see also Nicholson 2004).

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 4 (of 125 possible) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 9 (of 206 possible) check-lists during 2004; these YardWatch frequency classifications indicate that the Cerulean Warbler is Rare (2003) or Very Uncommon (2004) in Regional yards and neighborhoods and probably reflect the species' preference for large, unbroken tracts of mature deciduous woodland, a habitat not found at many Regional sites where YardWatch data were obtained.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: The rate of population decrease as measured by Breeding Bird Survey data across the continental breeding range 1966–2003 was strongly negative (–4.2%/yr), a rate of decrease that was greatest among wood warblers of North America (Pardieck and Sauer 2007).  Some data about the population trend within the Region appears to roughly mirror the continental trend, but data from within the Region are not entirely consistent on this matter.  Nicholson (2004) pointed to a nonspecific "overall decline" within the Cumberland Mountains from 1994 to 2000, basing his findings in part on results of Breeding Bird Censuses conducted at Frozen Head State Natural Area, Morgan County, Tennessee, during the late 1990s, and in part on results of point counts conducted in Morgan and Scott counties (and Campbell and Anderson counties), Tennessee, during the same period.  Results of a 16-km (10-mi) walking transect conducted 1994–2008 in Frozen Head State Natural Area, Morgan County, Tennessee, reveal a reduction of about 70% in the number of Cerulean Warblers, mainly singing males, counted each year, with most of the reduction taking place at lower elevations (450–600 m [1500–2000 ft]) of the park rather than at higher ones (600–1000 m [2000–3300 ft]) (S. Stedman, pers. data) until 2004; thereafter, reductions in the number of Cerulean Warblers along the route occurred along the upper elevations of the transect also; by 2007 the parts of the transect where most Cerulean Warblers were registered were 1) along the jeep road from Linlog Branch to the upper connection with the Bird Mountain Trail; and 2) along the uppermost 5 km (3 mi) of the North Old Mac Trail.  Results from an 82-km (50-mi) driving transect conducted in western Putnam County, Tennessee (2004–2019), roughly support the results from the walking transect in Frozen Head for the years when these two non-standard surveys overlap (2004–2008), but reveal no overall decrease in numbers over the course of the 16-year project. Results from a 24-stop Breeding Bird Survey conducted along the road to Wolf Knob, Daniel Boone National Forest, Whitley and McCreary counties, Kentucky, 1994–2005, reveal considerable difference in the number of Cerulean Warblers registered from year to year with only a slight (c. 10%) overall decrease.  Additionally, results of the Summer Roadside Survey in Putnam County, Tennessee, display an increase in the number of Cerulean Warblers registered during that survey from 1991 to 2006. Results from the UCR Foray project point to a fairly steady trend in the Regional population from the time of the Breeding Bird Atlas projects in Kentucky and Tennessee to the time of the UCR Foray project (Stedman 2017b).

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited