Transcript: Indicator Species: Hooded Warbler

This is a Hooded Warbler. We have uh a bunch of different kinds of warblers in Kentucky. This is one that is pretty common in the Natural Bridge area, Red River Gorge area, you can find him on the Kentucky river, different places throughout the state.

We have an incredible diversity of near tropical migratory song birds in the state of Kentucky. He is just one of the dozens of species. Warblers are just pretty good indicators of the health of your forest. A lot of these birds really need intact large tracks of forested areas to survive. They are not necessarily what we would consider endangered, but many of them are a declining species. So, they are not doing that great, and it is mainly due to habitat loss. A huge number of our breeding.

Warblers use Natural Bridge and the Red River Gorge area, and they of course are almost the definition of neo tropical migrates. Many of them breed here in the summer, and they will fly all the way to Colombia, in some cases, and back every year. So, habitat loss at both ends is affecting them.