Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler Dendroica virens
DESCRIPTION:
Size: 5 inches (13 cm)
Abundance: Common
Identification Tips:
- Olive crown and back
- Yellow face and olive ear patch
- Underparts pale with yellowish tinge and black streaks on sides
- Male has black throat and upper breast
- Thin, pointed bill
- Indistinct greenish cheeks
- White wing bars
- Dark legs
- Small, active, insect-eating bird
Adult male
- Black throat and upper breast
- In fall, throat and upper breast feathers are edged with yellow
Female and immature
- Plumage similar to male
- Throat pale, sometimes with black spots
- Breast smudged with black
HABITAT:
Coniferous forests or open mixed woodlands, birch and aspen woodlands, second-growth hardwood forests, swampy cypress forests, pine barrens
NESTING & FEEDING:
BREEDING. Open coniferous and coniferous-deciduous (occasionally deciduous) forests, cypress swamps in coastal Carolinas. ? broods. Mating system is monogamous.
DISPLAYS: ?
NEST: Often on horizontal limb; compact, deep, of grass, moss, inner bark, plant fibers, lined with fine materials. Both sexes help with nest construction.
EGGS: 4-5 Off-white, marked with browns, usually wreathed. 0.6" (17 mm).
CHICK DEVELOPMENT: Female incubates. Incubation takes 12 days. Development is altricial (immobile, downless, eyes closed, fed). Young leave the nest after 8-10 days. Female tends young with some help from male.
DIET: Largely or entirely insects during nesting.
CONSERVATION: Winters s through Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and s to Panama; found mostly on the mainland-reported in 1938 as one of the most common winter birds in El Salvador. Uncommon cowbird host.
NOTES: Male sings one song type at territorial boundaries, another in vicinity of female or nest. Male tends to forage higher in trees than female.
WORLD RANGE:
Dendroica virens BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. Open coniferous and mixed coniferous-deciduous forest, second growth. From ec British Columbia, n,c Alberta e across s Canada to s Labrador and Newfoundland and s to c Alberta, c Saskatchewan, c Manitoba, n,ec Minnesota, c Wisconsin, n Indiana, sc,e Ohio, Pennsylvania, c New Jersey, s New York and s New England, s in the Appalachians to c Alabama, n Georgia and w S. Carolina; coastal plain from se Virginia to e S. Carolina. Winters in extreme se U.S., e,s Mexico, C. America, n S. America and Greater Antilles. Vagrant to w U.S.
