Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis Scientific name definitions

Editors Note: As a result of the split of P. borealis into three species-level, where populations are best distinguished using song and genetics, some information in this account may contain information and references to the other two recently split species, Kamchatka Leaf Warbler (P. examinandus) and Japanese Leaf Warbler (P. xanthodryas). Future revisions of this account will continue to remove and replace this information with updated references to P. borealis.

This plain, greenish-tinged Old World warbler breeds across the subarctic taiga of Eurasia, from Norway to the Chukchi Peninsula of far eastern Siberia and across the Bering Strait into western Alaska. All breeding populations, including those of Alaska, migrate to wintering areas in southeast Asia.

This species is called “sungaqpaluktungiq” in the Inupiaq language of northwestern Alaska and “cungakcuarnaq” in the Central Yupik language of southwestern Alaska. The stem of both names (first 2 syllables) means gallbladder—likely in reference to the greenish plumage of this bird (M. Krauss pers. comm.).

Molecular phylogenetics have recently found that the family of Old World warblers, Sylviidae, is polyphyletic---an amalgam of various lineages not closely related. The leaf warblers, chiefly genus Phylloscopus, were placed in their own family, Phylloscopidae. In addition, systematics work on the Arctic Warbler specifically led to a proposal that the species as it was long recognized be split into three allospecies, one of wide occurrence across northern Eurasia into Alaska and two in eastern Asia. See Systematics for details.

As might be expected, most study of the Arctic Warbler has been with Old World populations. Few studies of this species have been done in North America. At the time of Bent's Life History account (Tucker 1949 Tucker, B. W. (1949). "Kennicott's Willow Warbler Acanthopneuste borealis kennicotti (Baird)." In Life histories of North American thrushes, kinglets, and their allies., edited by A. C. Bent, 330-339. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 196. Close ), the only confirmed breeding records of Arctic Warbler in North America were reports of Dixon (Dixon 1938a Dixon, J. S. (1938a). Birds and mammals of Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska. National Parks Fauna Series 3. Close ) from Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) National Park, Alaska. Early references to this species in North America speculated on the possibility of nesting but felt that specimen records and observations were of vagrants or strays from Siberia.

A thorough understanding of this species is hampered by its remote distribution. The account for this species in Cramp 1992 Cramp, S. (1992). The birds of the Western Palearctic: warblers. Vol. 6. Oxford, U.K: Oxford Univ. Press. Close (see also Glutz Von Blotzheim and Bauer 1991 Glutz Von Blotzheim, U. N. and K. M. Bauer. (1991). Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas, pt. 2: Passeriformes, pt. 3. Vol. 12. Wiesbaden, Germany: AULA-Verlag. Close ) provides a general reference to Arctic Warbler biology and summarizes published literature. What follows in this account attempts to emphasize studies and details of the Alaska population. Reference here to Cramp 1992 Cramp, S. (1992). The birds of the Western Palearctic: warblers. Vol. 6. Oxford, U.K: Oxford Univ. Press. Close alone, by default, means that there is “No information from populations in North America.” The most extensive published study from North America is that of Price and Beck (Price and Beck 1989 Price, T. and D. Beck. (1989). Observations on the breeding of the Arctic Warbler in Alaska. Condor 91:219-221. Close ) who reported observations of 1 season on 11 nests near Nome, Alaska, and more recently the work of Sharbaugh et al. (Sharbaugh et al. 2007 Sharbaugh, S., R. Ring, S. Guers and D. Shaw. (2007). Breeding ecology and habitat associations of the Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopus borealis kennecotti) in central Alaska; 2004-2006 Final Report. Fairbanks, AK: Alaska Bird Observatory. Close ) who monitored 96 nests over 3 seasons in east-central Alaska.