Bachman's Warbler - Ecology and Behavior

Ecology and Behavior

Due to the rarity of this species, little is known of its behavior. This species did not frequently pump its tail. When alarmed, Bachman’s Warbler jerked its tail and raised its crown feathers.

This species did not frequently sing while migrating, though it did sing upon reaching its breeding grounds. Once there, it preferred to use high perches to sing from.

This species’s foraging niche was quite low in elevation, frequently between three and ten feet. However, during migration it was also observed foraging in the tops of trees. This bird could feed while hanging upside down to probe the bottoms of leaves. Bachman’s Warbler fed by gleaning and probing into leaf clusters. This latter foraging strategy led some to hypothesize that this warbler specialized in foraging among dead leaves in canebreakers. Its primary prey included caterpillars, spiders, and other arthropods. It may have fed on nectar in Cuba, but this hypothesis is unproven.

It may be a colonial breeder. The nests were deep and bulky. Dead leaves, mosses, grasses, and weed stalks composed the exterior, while the interior cup was lined with fine fibers from Ramalina lichen and Spanish moss. These nests were made amongst blackberry brambles, cane stalks, and palmettos in bottomland forests 1 to 4 feet above the ground or, frequently, pools of water. Unusually for a warbler, its eggs were pure white with occasional fine marks at the large end.