| Description
The Golden-cheeked Warbler is a small migratory songbird. Both sexes have a golden yellow face and narrow black eye stripe. Males have a black crown, throat, and upper chest with white underparts, white streaked sides, and white wing bars. Females and immature birds are duller, with dark olive upperparts spotted with black, yellowish chin, and yellow and black streaked throats. It most closely resembles the more common Black-throated Green Warbler, but can be distinguished by its black eye stripe and black on its back. Habitat
The Golden-cheeked Warbler is a specialized species that has adapted to breed only in the mature oak and Ashe juniper forests of central Texas. It forages on soft-bodied caterpillars and other insects that it finds on the leaves and bark of these trees, and uses only the fine bark strips of the mature Ashe juniper, along with spider webs, to build its nests. The nests are built most often in juniper, but also may be found in other trees species including Texas oak, live oak, and cedar elm. Both males and females of the species tend to return to the same breeding area each year. They begin arriving in early to mid-March and lay between 3-5 eggs. Golden-cheeked Warblers will abandon their nests and re-nest if they are parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater). Range
The Golden-cheeked Warbler's entire breeding range is currently confined to approximately thirty-three counties in central Texas, primarily in the Edwards Plateau of Texas and locally north to Palo Pinto County. By late July and early August, the Golden-cheeked Warbler leaves Texas and migrates to spend its winters from the highlands of northern Chiapas, Mexico south to Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Threats
Golden-cheeked Warbler populations have experienced an alarming decline because of ongoing destruction of both wintering and breeding habitats. Wintering habitat is being lost due to timber harvesting. Serious losses in nesting habitat have occurred in counties such as Travis, Williamson, and Bexar, where rapid urban development has spread into oak-juniper woodlands associated with canyon lands. Juniper eradication programs around Austin, San Antonio, and Waco, Texas, have exacerbated habitat loss. Flood control and other impoundments have also reduced habitat for the warbler by inundating the juniper-oak woodlands existing on canyon slopes and bottoms along springs, streams, and rivers. Construction of large reservoirs has also led to loss of warbler habitat due to development of lakeside communities. Additionally, nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds may increase as the Golden-cheeked Warbler’s habitat becomes increasingly fragmented.
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