Blackpoll warblers are a rapidly declining Neotropical-Nearctic migratory songbird that breeds throughout the North American boreal forest and overwinters in South America. Since 2013, we have been using light-level geolocators to examine migration patterns of Blackpolls. This work began with our 2015 study (see below) providing the first direct evidence that, during fall migration, some Blackpolls undertook a non-stop flight from northeastern North America to South American and culminated with our 2024 paper (see below) describing the range-wide spring and fall migratory networks of this species. In collaboration with numerous partners, including Birds Canada, National Audubon Society, Wildlife Conservation Society and Selva (based in Colombia), we are now planning to link these migration patterns with demographics to better understand causes of decline. Stay tuned.

Publications

*PDF’s of papers can be found in the “Publications” section of this website. 

3. Duali, J, DeLuca, WV, MacKenzie, SA, Tremblay, JA, Drolet, B, Hache, S, Roberto-Charron, A, Ruiz, M, Boardman, R, Cooke, HA, Rimmer, CC, McFarland, KP, Marra, PP, Taylor, PD & Norris, DR. 2024. Range-wide post- and pre-breeding migratory networks of a declining Neotropical-Nearctic migratory bird, the blackpoll warbler. Scientific Reports 14:30229.

2. DeLuca, WV, Woodworth, BK, Mackenzie, SA, Newman, AEM, Cooke, H, Phillips, LM, Freeman, N, Sutton, AO, Tauzer, L, McIntyre, C, Stenhouse, I, Weidensaul, S, Taylor, PD & Norris, DR. 2019. A boreal songbird’s 20,000 km migration across North America and the Atlantic Ocean. Ecology 100(5): e02651.

1. DeLuca, WV, Woodworth, BK, Rimmer, C, Taylor, PD, Marra, PP, McFarland, K, Mackenzie, SA & Norris, DR. 2015. Transoceanic migration by a 12g songbird. Biology Letters 11: 20141045.