Lucy’s Warbler is the desert specialist of Arizona’s warbler family. Small, pale gray above and whitish below with a faint rufous crown, it thrives in mesquite bosques, desert washes, and riparian thickets of southern Arizona. Unique among North American warblers, it often nests in tree cavities, using old woodpecker holes or even hollowed-out crevices in dead branches. In Tucson and the Santa Cruz Valley, they sometimes accept nest boxes placed for them. Their rapid, high-pitched trill is a familiar desert sound from March through June. Lucy’s Warblers feed on small insects, spiders, and larvae, foraging actively among the outer foliage. They are among the earliest warblers to arrive in spring and among the first to depart in midsummer, heading to western Mexico for the winter.
