Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens)

Abundance: Uncommon during spring, summer, and fall, but may become locally Fairly Common or even Common where optimal habitat requirements are available (see also Habitat below); recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); data from Regional bird-monitoring efforts indicate the population breeding in the Region is stable and possibly increasing (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Summer Resident in most of the counties lying on or partly on the Cumberland Plateau or in the Cumberland Mountains; Transient in the counties or parts of counties lying off the plateau or outside of the Cumberland Mountains; specimen (7 June 1938; Rocky Branch, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940); specimen [female that had just completed the post-juvenile molt] (12 July 1948, McCreary County, Kentucky; R. M. Mengel; Mengel 1965).

Regional High Count: 134 (22 June 2000; Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Fentress and Scott counties, Tennessee; Stephen J. Stedman; Stedman and Stedman 2002; Note: a 2-county high count); SBC/SBB High Count: 125 (24 April 2009; McCreary County, Kentucky [SBB]; m. ob.).

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: x (

    Late Fall: x (

    Note: Spring arrival usually widespread in optimal (i.e., breeding) habitat by 1 April; fall departure largely complete by 15 October.  Regional dates of earliest reported spring arrival and latest reported fall departure for the years 2002–2011 follow (applies to the eastern half of the Region where this species is a breeder; in the western half the species is a transient):

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent). Nests are quite difficult to find, very few nest records being reported from the Region. See Nicholson (1998a) for a description of nests found during 1995 in Morgan (1 nest) and Scott (2 nests) counties, Tennessee.

Habitat: White pine/hemlock forest appears to provide optimal habitat for this warbler.  A considerable amount of this habitat is available in the many river gorges dissecting the Cumberland Plateau.  However, the Green may become quite common in high elevation deciduous forest. For example, in Frozen Head State Natural Area, Morgan County, Tennessee, 91 were counted 3 June 2007 along a 16-km transect, much of which lies at an elevation of c. 1000 m (3300 ft). Counts of Greens along this walking transect from 1994 to 2008 ranged from 31 to 91.  

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 7 (of 125 possible) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 19 (of 206 possible) check-lists during 2004, leading to YardWatch frequency classifications of Very Uncommon (2003) and Uncommon (2004); these results, especially those for 2004, roughly mirror the Regional abundance classification for this warbler.

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 Green is a marker species for a bird community that researchers have labeled the "Cumberlands/Low Blue Ridge" (Nicholson 1991); this community is frequently present in the river gorges located the eastern part of the Region and/or to some degree in counties of the Region that possess the proper elevation (c. 520 m [1700 ft] and above).

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