Habitat
In Alaska, occurs in dwarf willow often along streams, spruce woods, medium shrub habitats with willow and shrub birch or scattered trees; avoids forests (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959, Dixon 1938, Price and Beck 1989, Kessel 1998). Open coniferous or mixed forest, medium to tall shrublands (AOU 1983). Nests in sparse patchy woods in deciduous, coniferous, and mixed growth, commonly along water courses among willows and in birch forests; nest placed on ground under bushes or in tall grasses (Terres 1980). Near Nome, Alaska, nests commonly in association with willows along river and stream valleys (Price and Beck 1989). In a recent study on Arctic Warblers, researchers found that plots with a more open shrub layer consisting of shorter willow and more openings dominated by graminoids and forbs had a greater density of nests. The attributed the nest site selection and possibly nest success to the availability of grass, sedge (Carex spp.), and moose hair (Ring et al. 2005).
References
AOU. 1983. Check-list of North American birds. 6th ed.American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington D. C.
Dixon, J. S. 1938. Birds and mammals of Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska. National Park Service Faunal Series, No. 3. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. 235 p.
Gabrielson, I. N. and F. C. Lincoln. 1959. The Birds of Alaska. The Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, PA and Wildl. Manage. Inst., Washington, D.C. 922 pp.
Kessel, B. 1998. Habitat characteristics of some passerine birds in western North American taiga. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, AK.
Price, T., and D. Beck. 1989. Observations on the breeding biology of the arctic warbler in Alaska. Condor 91:219-221.
Ring, R., S. Sharbaugh, and N. Dewitt. 2005. Breeding ecology and habitat associations of the Arctic Warbler in Interior Alaska. Final Report 2005, Alaska Bird Observatory, Fairbanks, AK.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY.
