Black-throated Blue Warbler

Dendroica caerulescensOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Black-throated Blue Warbler: Small warbler that is the most strikingly sexually dimorphic of all wood warblers. Male has dark blue upperparts, black throat and mask, white underparts, and prominent white wing patch at base of primaries. Female has olive-brown upperparts, olive-yellow underparts, white eyebrow, and white wing patch.

Range and Habitat

Black-throated Blue Warbler: Breeds from Ontario east to Quebec and Nova Scotia, south to Minnesota, Great Lakes, and Connecticut, and in the mountains to northern Georgia; spends winters in Gulf coast states and the Greater Antilles. Preferred habitats include mixed deciduous and evergreen woodlands with thick undergrowth, especially mountain laurel.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"zwee-zwee-zwee-zweeee"

Interesting Facts

Black-throated Blue Warblers are ideal songbirds to study because their nests in the shrub layer are relatively easy to find and monitor, and their plumage allows one to readily determine the sex, and with practice, even the age of individuals.

They are among most trusting and tame of their family. If an observer moves very deliberately, a bird may be approached to within a few feet.

The sexes of the Black-throated Blue Warbler look so different that they were originally described as two different species.

A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Range Map for Black-throated Blue Warbler

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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-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler: Small warbler that is the most strikingly sexually dimorphic of all wood warblers. Male has dark blue upperparts, black throat and mask. White underparts with black sides and white wing patch at base of primaries. Bill, legs and feet are black. The female is olive-brown.

● Song: "zwee-zwee-zwee-zweeee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-throated Blue Warbler: Feeds on insects and other small invertebrates. During the breeding season, forages from on the ground to high in the forest canopy; male often forages higher than female; locates a high percentage of prey from the lower surface of leaves. Small fruits are often eaten during winter.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-throated Blue Warbler: Three to five white eggs, marked and flecked with brown and gray, are laid in a nest made of leaves and grass, lined with cobwebs and hair, and set near the ground in a shrub or young tree. Incubation ranges from 12 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Black-throated Blue Warbler: Tennessee Warbler has unbroken white line behind eye and lacks white wing patch. Orange-crowned Warbler has yellow to green upperparts and yellow-green underparts.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight with series of rapid wing beats alternating with brief periods of wings pulled to side.

Black-throated Blue Warbler Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Black-throated Blue Warbler: Breeds from Ontario east to Quebec and Nova Scotia, south to Minnesota, Great Lakes, and Connecticut, and in the mountains to northern Georgia; spends winters in Gulf coast states and the Greater Antilles. Preferred habitats include mixed deciduous and evergreen woodlands with thick undergrowth, especially mountain laurel.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.4 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America