Portal:Latin America/Featured picture/Week 38, 2006

Prothonotary Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Photo credit:User:Mdf

The Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. It is the only member of the genus Protonotaria.

The Prothonotary Warbler is 13 cm long and weighs 12.5 g. It has an olive back with blue-grey wings and tail, yellow underparts, a relatively long pointed bill and black legs. The adult male has a bright orange-yellow head; females and immature birds are duller and have a yellow head.

It breeds in hardwood swamps in southern Canada and the eastern United States, nesting in a cavity, sometimes using old Downy Woodpecker holes. The male often builds several incomplete unused nests in his territory; the female builds the real nest. It winters in the West Indies, Central America and northern South America.