STATUS: Common.
HABITAT: Inhabits open coniferous or mixed coniferous-deciduous woodlands, preferring spruce and fir forests with low trees, and coniferous bogs. Also inhabits dense thickets of spruce and fir, old clearings with small coniferous saplings, second-growth following logging, woodland edges, and coniferous thickets along roadsides.
SPECIAL HABITAT REQUIREMENTS: Young conifer stands for nesting.
NEST: Conceals nest in a small conifer, in foliage near the tip of a horizontal branch, generally 1 to 8 feet, but typically less than 5 feet, above the ground. Prefers spruce, fir, and hemlock for nesting, but may use hardwoods.
FOOD: Tends to forage near the center of a tree for insects, rather than at the outer edges; almost entirely insectivorous.
REFERENCES: Bent 1953a, DeGraff et al. 1980, Griscom and Sprunt 1979, Johnsgard 1979, Petersen in Farrand 1983c.