HABITAT BEHAVIOR AND SPRING MIGRATION OF CERULEAN WARBLER IN BELIZE
t h e c e r u l e a n w a r b l e r (Den droica cerulea) is a species of special conservation concern because it has apparently suffered a long term pop ulation decline at numerous localities on the breeding grounds in the east ern United States (Robbins et al. 1992) Presumably this stems from habitat destruction at both ends of its extensive geographic range. The species appears to be especially sus ceptible to the ongoing fragmenta tion and isolation of large tracts of mature deciduous forest throughout its breeding range, but has no doubt also suffered as a result of widespread deforestation within its narrow eleva tional range (of ca. 600 1400 m) on the eastern slopes of the Andes from Venezuela to southern Peru (Robbins et al. 1992) and northern Bolivia (Remsen and Traylor 1989) The for mer authors provide an excellent summary of the habitat preferences, ecology, distribution, and probable causes for the decline in this species. Despite the fact that Cerulean War blers breed within a few miles of many of North America's largest cities, details of their nesting behav ior and food habits are sketchy at best. Similarly, knowledge of the be havior and ecological distribution of this species away from the breeding grounds is fragmentary and confined primarily to the recent observations of a handful of Neotropical ornithol ogists who work in remote parts of the Peruvian Andes (Robbins et al. 1992) Furthermore, almost nothing has been published on the migratory routes or behavior of Cerulean War blers during their spring and fall mi gration. In this and most other long distance Neotropical migrant land birds, the shape, geographic position, and orientation of migratory routes and potential staging areas have not been delimited. In this paper, I pro vide a summary of my own observa tions on the habitat, behavior, and status of this threatened species dur ing its spring migration through the Maya Mountains of southern Belize. I also discuss the conservation impli cations of these observations, and I suggest ways to obtain additional, much needed information on the distribution of this and other poorly known Neotropical migrants that use the highly threatened evergreen for ests of Middle America.