Golden-winged Warbler

Vermivora chrysopteraOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Golden-winged Warbler: Small warbler with gray upperparts and white underparts. Face is white with black mask and throat, and head has a yellow crown. Wings are gray with large yellow patches. Female is duller. Hybridizes with Blue-winged Warbler.

Range and Habitat

Golden-winged Warbler: Breeds from southern Manitoba and New Hampshire south to New Jersey and Iowa, and in the mountains to Georgia. Spends winters from southern Mexico to northern South America. Preferred habitats include abandoned fields and pastures grown to saplings.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"beee-bzz-bzz-bzz"

Interesting Facts

The Golden-winged Warbler benefited from the extensive deforestation of the last several centuries, especially as farms were abandoned in the 20th century. Current reforestation is reducing available breeding habitat.
They hybridize extensively with the Blue-winged Warbler, giving rise to the distinctly plumaged "Brewster's" and "Lawrence's" warblers. Backcrosses of hybrids to pure parental types result in many intermediate-appearing birds.
Hybrids do not sing intermediate songs but sing either normal Blue-winged Warbler or Golden-winged Warbler songs. Some birds sing both. Occasionally pure-looking parental types sing the "wrong" song.
A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" 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.

Golden-winged Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler: Small warbler with gray upperparts and white underparts. Face is white with black mask and throat, and head has a yellow crown. Wings are gray with large yellow patches. Its flight is weak and fluttering, alternates rapid wing beats with periods of wings drawn to its sides.

● Song: "beee-bzz-bzz-bzz"

● Foraging & Feeding: Golden-winged Warbler: Feeds on insects, especially caterpillars and pupae. Gleans leaves and twigs, concentrating on dead leaf clusters; acrobatic forager, often hanging upside-down like a chickadee.

● Breeding & nesting: Golden-winged Warbler: Four to seven creamy white eggs with brown splotches and spots are laid in a cup of dead leaves and fibers set on or near the ground in thick vegetation. Eggs are incubated for approximately 10 days by the female.

● Similar species: Golden-winged Warbler: None in range.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight on rapidly beating wings.

● Range & Habitat: Golden-winged Warbler: Breeds from southern Manitoba and New Hampshire south to New Jersey and Iowa, and in the mountains to Georgia. Spends winters from southern Mexico to northern South America. Preferred habitats include abandoned fields and pastures grown to saplings.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationUncommon to rare, Declining

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.3 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America