I like the variety of buzzy, ascending songs coming down from the treetops from this wood warbler as it haunts the canopy of large conifers growing in moist soil in the more northerly reaches of MI, MN, and WI. In this region the parula forms its hanging nest in dense masses of Usnea lichen (beard moss); in the southeastern US, it uses Spanish moss.
This morning I was privileged to hear 4 parulas and watched one in full sun and at a fairly low height throw its head back and just quiver as it sang several times before continuing to forage in the large white spruce. During the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas project, it was found during the breeding season in about a fifth of the state's topographic quads. Most of the confirmed breeding records occurred in the northern tier of counties, with a southern extension into Landglade County, and an exceptional record from Mike Mossman in the Baraboo Hills (Sauk Co.).
BBS data from 1966-2003 indicate that its population has increased at a 0.8% pace annually survey-wide (US and Canada), which is similar to its trend in WI. In MN, the positive trend is greater (1.9%), whereas in MI it is a whopping 10%.
