John James Audubon describes seeing the Carbonated warbler in May of 1811 “busily engaged in searching for insects along the branches and amongst the leaves of a dogwood tree.” Yet rather than a dogwood, it is among the branches of the Serviceberry tree that Audubon placed the Carbonated warbler. The Serviceberry “seldom attains a greater height than thirty or forty feet, and is usually found in hilly ground of secondary quality.” While Serviceberry continues to grow in many shapes and sizes, such as the Downy, Roundleaf, Western, Shadblow, Shadbush, Shore, Sheepberry, and Shorebay, there remains the one and only sighting of the Carbonated warbler. There is also the possibility that the Carbonated warbler was a hybrid of the Golden-winged warbler (Plate 414) and the Blue-winged warbler (Plate 20).
Plate 60 – Carbonated Warbler
Plate 60 of the first edition of "Birds of America" by John James Audubon.