The Golden-cheeked Warbler is a rare species with one of the most restricted breeding ranges in all of North America. Texas is the only state in the union where this bird nests. Except for two fall migration records from Florida and the Farallon Islands off California, this bird has never been found anywhere else in the U.S. Unfortunately, the impacts of a century and a half of urbanization and land-clearing for agriculture have conspired to reduce numbers of this beautiful bird to an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 pairs confined to a 30 plus county area of the Edwards Plateau, Lampasas Cut Plains and Llano Uplift. On May 4, 1990, it was placed on the Federal Endangered Species List by means of an emergency rule due to significant declines in population, reductions of overall range and continuing loss of nesting habitat in several key counties.

Winter Distribution and Migration: Golden-cheeks winter in the pine-oak highlands of southern Mexico and Central America.  They migrate overland until they reach their Texas breeding grounds.

Description: The Golden-cheek measures from 4.5 to 5 inches long with a wingspan of 8 inches. The male has a black back, throat and cap with snappy yellow cheeks with a black stripe through the eye. The females resemble the males, though they are less colorful.

Habitat: Golden-cheeks are strict habitat specialists found breeding only in "cedar brakes" of the Texas Hill Country. While the 30 to 50 foot juniper-oak woodlands may not hold a candle to the magnificent forests of Appalachia or the Pacific Northwest, in a very real sense, this bird is an "old growth forest" species. It shares many of the same problems besetting other habitat specialists like the Great Spotted Owl and Cerulean Warbler.

Prime nesting habitat consists of tall, dense, mature stands of Ashe Juniper mixed with hardwoods such as Plateau live oak, Texas red oak, Shin oak, Texas ash, Cedar elm, Arizona walnuts, Escarpment black cherry, and hackberries. This type of woodland thrives in relatively moist areas such as steep-sided canyons and slopes dotted with springs and seeps. Where you find steep canyons with old junipers and thick patches of hardwoods cloaking the sides, deciduous trees along drainage bottoms, creeks and draws, you will find the bird enjoying an ideal mix of vegetation. They can also be found in lower densities in drier, flatter upland juniper-oak habitats consisting of post oak, live oak and blackjack oak, but this is not considered their prime habitat.

Warblers require a combination of mature Ashe juniper and hardwoods in their nesting habitat. A common question asked is why do they need mature trees and how old does a juniper have to be to consider it mature. Mature juniper trees vary in age and growth form depending on many factors on the site where they are growing. Soils, moisture, aspect, slope and location as well as past land use practices all play a role. Trees which have shredding bark at least near the base are an essential element on the nesting territory, as the females uses this bark to construct the nest. Trees need to be at least 20 to 30 years old and 15 feet tall before they show this quality. Interestingly, no other species of juniper occurring within the bird's range provide acceptable nesting material for the female Golden-cheek.

Habitat structure is also important. Birds prefer wooded areas with a moderate to high density of trees with dense foliage in the upper canopy. They prefer large tracts over small isolated tracts, a good mix of juniper and hardwoods with variability in tree heights and lots of deciduous tree cover. A pure stand of scrubby juniper is not ideal habitat at all. Ideal habitat must also have water. Proximity to water is essential for drinking and bathing. Prime habitat also seems to occur on steep canyon slopes with rugged terrain perhaps because of the greater surface run-off and seepage that occurs there. This favors luxuriant growth of deciduous trees and more insect food production. Fires historically don't affect steep slopes nor are they practical for agricultural clearing which may also be key factors.

Foraging: Golden-cheeks feed almost entirely on insects, especially soft-bodied caterpillars, spiders, beetles and other small critters found in the foliage of the tree canopy. They tend to avoid the spiny type caterpillars, though. Oaks are especially important as foraging trees during the nesting season. Relatively moist conditions such as those found in canyon bottoms, along draws and creeks and cool wooded slopes are great for the production of insects.

Territory and Nesting: Male Golden-cheeks arriving in mid-March will set up a territory from 3 to 6 acres which he will defend vigorously through song against all other males of the species. Territories in prime habitat tend not to be as large and those in sub-optimal habitats. The female alone builds the nest. Golden-cheek nests are examples of near-perfect camouflage. They are perhaps the hardest for biologists doing nest surveys to find. You need sharp eyes, a keen search image, and tenacity to find one, they blend in so perfectly with their surroundings. Adding to the difficulty is the relatively high level averaging 15 feet (5'-32') off the ground. In late March and early April the female lays a single clutch of 3 to 4 eggs. Golden-cheeks usually lay only one clutch of eggs, unlike Cardinals and Mockingbirds, permanent residents, who may pull off up to three broods during a summer. Exceptionally, should a first clutch be destroyed or predated early in the season, Golden-cheeks will re-nest. During the incubation period, performed by the female, the male stays close by defending the territory and singing loudly from his favorite song posts. Eggs hatch in 12 days and young fledge 8 or 9 days after. The male takes on more paternal responsibilities as the fledglings continue to grow. At this time, family groups can be found both on territory and in creek bottoms on foraging trips.

Song: The best way to find a Golden-cheek is by hearing its song. The song is not hard to recognize once you become familiar with the wheezy buzzy notes. There are two main variations, Song-type A (ascending) and Song-type B  (descending).  Golden-cheeks also have a distinctive single, sharp chipping note which can be heard when the birds are foraging in the trees. This is very important for finding females and young which do not sing. It can also be a good clue to the proximity of a nest.

Natural Enemies: Golden-cheeks have a number of natural enemies including rat snakes and coach whips that climb up trees to the open-cup nest and eat eggs or a brood of nestlings. Scrub jays and especially Blue Jays have been cited as both egg and nestling predators. With the increase in urbanization, a large increase in the Blue Jay population has put extra strain on a declining warbler population. Other common predators include Virginia opossum, Fox squirrel, great-tailed grackles and possibly ring-tailed cats. Fire ants have also been mentioned They can eat hatchlings, cause adults to desert the nest by stinging the brood patch of the female while she is sitting on the eggs, and probably by reducing the invertebrate prey base. One of the biggest natural enemies to the warbler is the brood parasite, the Brown-headed Cowbird. Cowbirds search out nests of other species and lay their eggs for the host species to bring up. They will wait for the female of the host to lay her first egg. When the potential host has left to forage, the female cowbird will remove the egg and lay one of her own. Many bird species do not recognize their own eggs. Cowbird eggs tend to hatch one or two days earlier than the warbler eggs. This gives the baby cowbird a big jump on the baby warbler in both size and noisiness. Cowbirds do not specialize or target particular host species. There is no egg mimicry or mouth mimicry as there is in the Common Cuckoo or some Estrildid brood parasites which specialize on a single species each. Cowbirds will lay their eggs in any nest they find, some of them highly inappropriate even. With the impartiality of a roulette wheel, the cowbird distributes its eggs. The probability that a nest will get cowbird attention depends on the number of cowbirds laying eggs in the area and the number of host nests available. Thus, the cowbird's effect on a vulnerable host like the Golden-cheek or Black-capped Vireo is particularly insidious since it is unrelenting even though the host species is vanishing. The cowbird is not deterred by the scarcity of one host. The very last nest of a vanishing species is just as likely to be used as the nest of a plentiful one. From the cowbird's point of view, it is a simple numbers game. Lay enough eggs in enough different baskets and you are bound to get your genes in the next generation. While some species like the Gray Catbird and Yellow Warbler have evolved strategies against the cowbird, most deep forest species have not. Golden-cheeks can raise one of their own chicks if there is only one Cowbird egg. Black-caps are always doomed to nest failure should even one cowbird egg be laid in their nest. With Golden-cheeks, abandonment of first clutches, or raising cowbird young in addition to one of their own, still decreases the total number and survivability of Golden-cheek young produced. Feral, domestic and stray cats associated with suburban and urban areas play havoc with all types of songbirds including Golden-cheeks. Again, losses are more devastating to species which are already in decline.

Probably the most serious threat facing the Golden-cheek, given its highly restricted breeding range is habitat loss and fragmentation due to urbanization and clearing associated with agriculture. This has resulted directly in significant declines in population. Previously, the principal reason for GCW habitat loss was the clearing of juniper to improve pasture conditions for cattle grazing, to provide wood for fence posts, cedar oil and wood for furniture. Recent losses have occurred especially in Bexar, Travis, and Williamson counties due to rapid suburban development, urbanization, and reservoir construction and creation of impoundments for flood control. There have also been losses of habitat on the wintering grounds and through the migration corridor. Foremost is the clearing and logging of the pine-oak woodlands for commercial lumber, charcoal, marble quarrying, and habitation in the highlands of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. As human populations continue to soar, this will continue. Another factor is the loss of oaks to oak wilt and a general reduction in the regeneration of many oak species. In some areas where there is an overpopulation of white-tailed deer, over-browsing is a problem. Goats and various other exotic ungulates also contribute to over-browsing which reduces the quality of GCW habitat. Brown-headed cowbird parasitism is a major cause of concern and concentrations of livestock may elevate rates of nest parasitism in some areas. Creation of edge due to fragmentation, increases the probability that natural nest predators like raccoons, opossums, squirrels, scrub and blue jays and feral cats will find warbler nests. Fragmentation definitely helps the Brown-headed cowbird locate warbler nests. Fragmentation also increases the distance between habitat patches making re-colonization of vacant habitat more difficult.