Chestnut-sided Warbler

Look for

Spring male: a lime-yellow cap, black line through the eye, and bright chestnut-brown side-stripes running from the chin to the flanks on a white chest. Distinctive and elegant. Fall birds: much duller — pale yellow-green with white eye-ring.

Size: ~5" — small warbler.

Listen for

• Song: a cheerful, emphatic "pleased-pleased-pleased-to-MEETCHA!" — rising, confident, one of the easiest warbler songs to identify.
• This is the classic Memphis-bird-in-Overton-Park-in-May sound.

Where in Memphis

Migration only. Peaks early-to-mid May and mid-September.

• Overton Park Old Forest
• Meeman-Shelby Forest
• Wolf River Greenway
• Shelby Farms wooded edges

Behavior

• Mid-story foragers — work shrubs and mid-branches.
• Slow-moving for a warbler — easier to watch than Redstarts or Magnolias.
• Tail-held-cocked when singing.

Story

The forest-regeneration success

Chestnut-sided Warblers were rare in colonial New England — John James Audubon saw only one in his life. The bird became common only AFTER Eastern forests were clear-cut in the 1800s and grew back as young second-growth.

They prefer successional shrubland — the messy in-between phase after clear-cut logging, before mature forest returns. As the U.S. reforested in the 20th century, Chestnut-sideds benefited enormously.

A rare example of a bird species that was helped (not harmed) by European settlement's forest disruption.

"Pleased to meetcha"

Every new Memphis birder learns this song in their first May. It's catchy, confident, unmistakable. If you walk through the Old Forest in mid-May and hear a bird singing "pleased pleased pleased to MEETCHA" — that's this one.

The Pennsylvania connection

Scientific name pensylvanica — the first specimen was collected by early American naturalists in Pennsylvania.

Fun facts

• They winter in Central America and northern South America.
• Males molt twice a year — from fall-drab to spring-brilliant each April.
• Their nests are built very low — 2–5 ft up in saplings or shrubs.
• Oldest known wild Chestnut-sided Warbler: 7+ years.