Historic Status

The Chestnut-sided Warbler was unfamiliar to John James Audubon, Alexander Wilson, and Thomas Nuttall. After 1800, however, with heavy clearing of primeval forests for agriculture, the population of this handsome warbler grew quickly in the state (Howe & Allen 1901). The species especially thrived when agricultural fields and pastures were abandoned and began to revert to forest. But as the state continued on the path to reforestation in the twentieth century, and few new shrublands were created, the Chestnut-sided Warbler began turning from “one of the commonest of eastern warblers” (Forbush 1929) into a decidedly declining species.

Atlas 1 Distribution

During Atlas 1, the Chestnut-sided Warbler could be found wherever there were fairly open young forests, and occupied 54% of the blocks surveyed. The western regions, especially the Berkshire Highlands, Lower Berkshire Hills, and Marble Valleys, had Chestnut-sided Warblers in more than 90% of their blocks, and most regions west of the Coastal Plains posted over 80% block occupancy. The break in the bird’s western distribution along the Connecticut River Valley illustrates that Chestnut-sided Warblers are more a bird of young forests than of old fields. Accordingly, the forests of the Worcester Plateau and the Lower Worcester Plateau both had notable concentrations. The central and northeastern parts of the Coastal Plains were also hot spots for the Chestnut-sided Warbler, though the Boston Basin had only a handful of breeding records. The Bristol/Narragansett Lowlands had 27% block occupancy, and the warblers were present but very thinly distributed on the Cape and Islands.

Atlas 2 Distribution and Change

The Chestnut-sided Warbler sings a song that is confusingly similar to some variations of the Yellow Warbler’s song, and sometimes even in the same habitats. As Yellow Warblers waxed in abundance, though, Chestnut-sided Warblers waned. Overall block totals in Atlas 2 are higher than Atlas 1, but the percent of occupied blocks is the same, 54%. In the western highlands, Chestnut-sided Warblers were highly persistent and in some cases even increased their distribution. They also gained ground in the Connecticut River Valley as more young forest habitat became available, but the numbers from the Worcester Plateau regions merely showed small fluctuations. The Coastal Plains were patchily occupied and posted an overall decline in distribution for this species. This species sustained notable losses from the southeastern regions of the state, where disappearances far outstripped meager gains in its footprint, and this contributed to a loss in the species’ effort-controlled statewide footprint.