Black-and-white Warbler

Mniotilta variaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Black-and-white Warbler: Small, black-and-white warbler with a white median head stripe bordered by black. Female and juvenile are similar but have black line to eye, rather than black cheeks and throat. Adult and juvenile females are usually washed with buff on face and flanks.

Range and Habitat

Black-and-white Warbler: Breeds from southern Mackenzie, northern Alberta, and central Manitoba east to Newfoundland, and south to southern U.S. east of the Rockies. Spends winters from southern parts of Gulf coast states southward. Preferred habitats include primary and secondary forests, chiefly deciduous. During migration occurs in parks, gardens, and lawn areas with trees and shrubs.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"wee-see", "chip", "tik", "seet-seet"

Interesting Facts

The Black-and-white Warbler is the only member of the genus Mnitilta, which means "moss plucking". They have an unusually long hind toe and claw on each foot. This adaptation allows them to move securely on the surface of tree bark.

Unusually aggressive for a warbler, they sometimes attack and fight Red-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees, and other species.

They are known for their habit of creeping around tree trunks and along larger branches in search of insect food in crevices or under the bark; hence its old name, "Black-and-white Creeper." Unlike the Brown Creeper, which only moves up a tree, this species can climb in any direction.

A group of black-and-white warblers are collectively known as a "dichotomy", "distinction", and "integration" of warblers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler: Small, black-and-white striped warbler with a white median head stripe bordered by black. Black bill, legs and feet. It forages unlike any other warbler by moving up and down the trunks of trees and crawling under and over branches in a style similar to that of a nuthatch.

● Song: "wee-see", "chip", "tik", "seet-seet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-and-white Warbler: Feeds on caterpillars, flies, bugs, beetles, borers, spiders, and arthropod egg masses. The only North American warbler to forage regularly on bark; creeps along branches and trunks from the canopy to the ground, picking and probing with its thin bill.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-and-white Warbler: Four to six brown flecked, white to creamy white eggs are laid in a ground nest composed of leaves, grass, and rootlets, and lined with hair and fern down. Nest is set at the base of a tree, stump, or rock. Incubation ranges from 10 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Black-and-white Warbler: Blackpoll Warbler lacks white behind eye and does not creep along trunks and branches.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight on rapidly beating wings.

Black-and-White Warbler Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Black-and-white Warbler: Breeds from southern Mackenzie, northern Alberta, and central Manitoba east to Newfoundland, and south to southern U.S. east of the Rockies. Spends winters from southern parts of Gulf coast states southward. Preferred habitats include primary and secondary forests, chiefly deciduous. During migration occurs in parks, gardens, and lawn areas with trees and shrubs.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationWidespread

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.4 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America