Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor)

Prairie Warbler [lateral view of singing male]: Photograph Credit: © Dave Hawkins Photography, Nashville, Tennessee; Edgar Evins State Park, DeKalb County, Tennessee; mid-May 2009.

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Abundance: Fairly Common during spring and summer; Uncommon during fall; recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); data from Regional bird-monitoring efforts indicate the population breeding in the Region is probably stable (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Summer Resident; breeds in all Regional counties; Visitor during winter (1 record); specimen (15 June 1938; Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940); photograph (see above).

Regional High Count and SBC/SBB High Count: 174 (28 April 2007; Smith County, Tennessee [SBB]; m. ob.); FBC/FBB High Count: 9 (20 September 2008; Putnam County, Tennessee [FBC]; m. ob.).

Out-of-Season (Winter) Record:

16 December 1998 (1) Wakefield Dr., Putnam County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman, Ginger K. Ensor, Kenneth L. Morgan, Jeanne C. Schmitzer; Fekel 1999b), also second Tennessee winter record and second Tennessee CBC record.

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: x (

    Late Fall: 29 November 2014 (Putnam County, Tennessee; Stephen J. Stedman), but see also Out-of-Season (Winter) Record (above).

    Note: Spring arrival usually widespread by 15 April; fall departure largely complete by 10 September.  Regional dates of earliest reported spring arrival and latest reported fall departure for the years 2002–2011 follow:

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent). 

Habitat: A shrub-scrub specialist, depending on regenerating burn sites, silvicultural sites, etc., that are in the stages of regeneration when most shrubs and trees are 1.5–6 m (5–20 ft) in height.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 6 (of 125 possible) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 25 (of 206 possible) check-lists during 2004, leading to YardWatch frequency classifications of Very Uncommon (2003) and Uncommon (2004); the overall abundance classification of the Prairie in the Region is Fairly Common, so this species appears to be less well represented in the urban and suburban habitats where YardWatch data were mostly gathered than in the Region as a whole.

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: x

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