Elfin Woods Warbler

The Elfin Woods Warbler (Setophaga angelae) is a tiny 12.5 cm insectivorous songbird restricted to remote mountain dwarf forests in Puerto Rico’s Luquillo and Maricao ranges.

• Common Name(s): Elfin Woods Warbler
• Family: Parulidae
• Body Dimensions: 12.5 cm
• Male Plumage Color(s): Gray Upperparts, Yellow Underparts, Dark Eye Mask
• Female Plumage Color(s): Gray Upperparts, Yellow Underparts, Dark Eye Mask
• Habitat: High Elevation Dwarf Forests
• Diet: Insects
• Native Countries: Puerto Rico
• Continent(s): North America
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 1972
• Taxonomist(s): Cameron B. Kepler & Kenneth Carroll Parkes

Elfin Woods Warbler Fun Facts

• Its black-and-white streaked plumage resembles the more widespread migrant Black-and-white Warbler. But named after its 1972 discoverer (Angela Kay Kepler, a New Zealand-born naturalist and author), these endemic sports distinctive face markings and subtly beautiful songs^[1].
• Nesting March-June, pairs hide 2-3 white eggs with rufous speckles in dense Cecropia leaf litter lining compact cup nests.
• Both parents tend eggs and forage to provision hungry chicks’ prime lepidopteranWhat is lepidopteran?A lepidopteran is a member of the order Lepidoptera, encompassing butterflies and moths, characterized by wings covered in tiny scales. and orthopteranWhat is orthopteran?An orthopteran is an insect from the Orthoptera order, including grasshoppers and crickets, noted for strong jumping legs and often musical sounds. prey.
• Though surveys post-Hurricane Hugo suggested over 600 Elfin Woods Warblers persisted through the 1990s, evidence indicates just two populations limited to El Yunque and Maricao forests, totaling 1,800-2,700 birds.
• This rare species’ highly specific habitat preferences—foraging mid-canopy flowering trees and epiphytes—show its vulnerability to climate change and human encroachment.
• Logging, communications towers, and roads traversing remote peaks bring invasive predators that plunder nests. And competition from expanding miles of powerline rights-of-way favors generalist birds over the reclusive Elfin Woods Warbler.
• While not yet federally listed under the Endangered Species Act, the IUCN upgraded its status to Endangered in 2017. Protecting precious remaining dwarf forests from all fragmentation is paramount.

Carving out inviolate zones for this range-restricted species to retreat up-slope as conditions warm could determine if the Elfin Woods Warbler endures this century or vanishes like too many other island endemics.

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