Background

Commonly called the Golden Swamp Warbler, the Prothonotary Warbler is one of the most dazzling of North American birds.  They have golden yellow heads and breasts, yellow-green backs, and azure blue wings and tails.  Males and females look alike, but males are somewhat more colorful.  Prothonotaries don’t have wing bars, but white tail spots are quite prominent.  The average Prothonotary weighs about  ½ oz, and measures about 5 1/2 inches long.  Its territorial song is a very loud, memorable, ringing "Tsweeet-tsweet-tsweet-tsweet," uttered in groups of four to six. Thus, together with its yellow color, the Prothonotary is "Tweety Bird" come to life!

The Prothonotary Warbler is a Neotropical migrant songbird that breeds throughout the eastern U.S. and southern Canada. This species is the only eastern warbler to nest in tree cavities. The availability of suitable nesting holes is the most critical habitat requirement for the breeding success of this species. Water is another critical habitat feature. Prothonotary Warblers prefer lowland forests near standing water for nesting sites. Their populations are declining over much of their historic breeding range in response to degradation and destruction of lowland forests and associated wetlands. In Virginia they are most commonly found nesting along tidal tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay.  The Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers wetland habitats provide excellent nesting opportunities for this species. 

Our Project

MPRA wants to educate individuals about the conservation of a unique migratory warbler, while providing an opportunity to participate in a hands on conservation project. Participants will have the opportunity to build and monitor nest boxes placed along the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers. This project will continue for many years in hopes of being able to band future offspring for population data.

Click here for information about a partnership with a local King William school group.  

Currently we are partnering with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and have 10 boxes located along the Pamunkey River on the reservation. We have hopes of putting up a larger number of boxes in the near future for better data/results in this area.

If you have any location along the Mattaponi and Pamunkey you would like to have included in this project please feel free to contact MPRA for more information. Future partners will most likely include: Local land owners, State Forest, school groups, etc.

We are also looking for groups or individuals that would like to help monitor and maintain boxes for this project. Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Please contact us using the contact information on our Homepage.

Prothonotary Warbler Project Coordinator: Brad Davis

Click here for more information about the Prothonotary Warbler.

 Projects & Activities

 Home

© Copyright 2007, The Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers Association, Inc.
All rights reserved.