The hooded warbler lives in the under-story of maturing and climax forests where a substantial cover of young, brushy growth is abundant especially in ravines and breeds across the United States east of the Mississippi except in the northern most part of the country.  Such habitat is rare in Hamilton County and so is the warbler.  In Miami Whitewater Forest though, over 500 acres of such habitat serves as the summer home to dozens of hooded warbler pairs. it is, to my knowledge, the only place in the area where this warbler is common.

The hooded warbler is olive above and yellow below the male has yellow face with a black hood and throat while the female lacks the hood or it is much less prounounced.  Both sexes have white tail spots.

The hooded warbler, like the yellow-throated, sings throughout the summer and remains with us well into September when it heads southward to Mexico or Costa Rica. The others generally cease active singing in early July and seem to disappear into the foliage.

Three to four creamy white eggs with brown spots are laid in a grass-lined nest of dead leaves and plant fibers located low in a small tree or shrub.  The nest is especially vulnerable to parasitism by the brown-headed cowbird.   I have yet to find an early nest that did not contain cowbird eggs or young.   Second and third nests, however, are likely to produce more warblers, since most local cowbirds seem to become sexually inactive by mid-July.

The incubation period lasts about 12 days with the young leaving the nest about 9 days later.  The diet consists entirely of insects which the male catches in flight while the female hunts on or close to the ground.

Length 5-6 Inches