[Fact box]

Print

Click on plot to view table of mean abundance

Atlas Results

Orange-crowned Warblers were, perhaps surprisingly, observed in all ecoregions of the province during the breeding season. They were found mainly from the Boreal Transition ecoregion northwards, being most abundant north of the Churchill River, with a large area of relative scarcity in the middle of the Athabasca Plain ecoregion. South of the Boreal Transition, Orange-crowned Warblers were rare and local to a few areas of dense shrub and tree cover, such as the Cypress Uplands, Moose Mountain Provincial Park, the valleys of the Qu'Appelle River, Pipestone Creek and both the South and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and especially in the Mixed Wood Sand Hills ecodistrict south of Saskatoon.

Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:

This hardy little bird makes an early spring appearance and is one of the first warblers to brighten the woods with its chipping song. The Orange-crowned Warbler is primarily a western warbler, with a breeding range that extends from Alaska to Baja California in the west but narrows to central Quebec and southern Labrador in the east. It winters from the southern US to northern Central America.

In the boreal forest, Orange-crowned Warblers favour regenerating burns and clearcuts, brushy openings, and steep slopes near roadsides and streams. It is more abundant in young jack pine mixedwood stands than in mature forest (Kirk and Hobson 2001). South of the boreal forest, look for Orange-crowned Warblers in aspen woodlands and near the top of wooded coulees. During migration it finds any type of wooded or brushy habitat acceptable.

"The Orange-crowned Warbler is a fairly common summer resident from the southern edge of the Subarctic Region ... through most of the Parklands ... and the Cypress Hills? (Smith 1996). In the grasslands it ranges from rare to fairly common in stretches of aspen and on the wooded slopes of coulees and the South Saskatchewan River; elsewhere it is generally regarded as a migrant.

Original text by Tina Portman. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky

Read more about the Orange-crowned Warbler in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.

LeeAnn M. Latremouille

Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Orange-crowned Warbler in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=OCWA&lang=en [16 Feb 2026]