Black-throated Green Warbler
Setophaga virens
Bright yellow face with olive cheeks, crown, and back. Only breeding males have solid black throat. In all plumages, look for dark streaks on white flanks and yellow wash on vent. Breeds in mixed coniferous forests; migrants can be found in any wooded habitat, usually with tall trees. Winters primarily in Central America and the Caribbean, rarely into northern South America. Compare especially with Townsend’s Warbler on the wintering grounds, but Black-throated Green has a less contrasting face pattern (especially paler crown and cheeks) and less yellow on breast.
Identification
It has an olive-green crown, a yellow face with olive markings, a thin pointed bill, white wing bars, an olive-green back and pale underparts with black streaks on the flanks. Adult males have a black throat and upper breast; females have a pale throat and black markings on their breast.<p>Measurements:
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Setophaga virens
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Parulidae
- Genus
- Setophaga
Range and habitat
The breeding habitat of the black-throated green warbler is coniferous and mixed forests in eastern North America and western Canada and cypress swamps on the southern Atlantic coast. These birds' nests are open cups, which are usually situated close to the trunk of a tree.<p>These birds migrate to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and southern Florida. One destination is to the Petenes mangroves of the Yucatán. Some birds straggle as far as South America, with the southernmost couple of records coming from Ecuador.
- Breeding range
- NA : c Canada to se Canada and ne, e and nc USA
- Non-breeding range
- Mexico to n SA and West Indies
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Black-throated green warblers forage actively in vegetation, and they sometimes hover (gleaning), or catch insects in flight (hawking). Insects are the main constituents of these birds' diets, although berries will occasionally be consumed.<p>The song of this bird is a buzzed zee-zee-zee-zooo-zeet or zoo-zee-zoo-zoo-zeet. The call is a sharp tsip.<p>This bird is vulnerable to nest parasitism by the brown-headed cowbird.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Black-bellied Sunbird
Cinnyris nectarinioides
A slim, long-billed sunbird in which breeding males and females are very different. Breeding males are mostly dark iridescent green with a red band across the underparts. The red band is bordered by narrow yellow stripes in the southern part of the range. Females are plain, with gray-brown upperparts and pale underparts with dark streaking. Found in dry thorn savanna. Similar to Beautiful Sunbird, but breeding males are separated by the less extensive or absent yellow in their belly band, and females by being more streaked below. The common calls are quiet chips and “tip” notes, and the song is a high-pitched jumble typical of sunbirds.
St. Helena Plover
Anarhynchus sanctaehelenae
A long-legged plover with a long black bill, a black eye mask and crown, and a white forehead. Upperparts brownish, and underparts whitish washed with peachy orange. Widespread across flat open upland habitats to above 500 meters of elevation. Very similar to Kittlitz’s Plover, but ranges do not overlap. Most common call is a short soft “kee-vit.” Gives a more rattling trill in flight.
House Sparrow
Passer domesticus
Widespread and abundant in cities, neighborhoods and farms. Avoids dense woods. Flocks cluster in dense bushes, bustling around and chattering to one another. Males have smart black bibs, bright rufous napes, and stunningly patterned wings with brilliant buffs and browns. Underparts are pale pearly-gray. Females are plain brown with cute face and lighter eyebrow. Native to Eurasia; introduced to much of the rest of the world.
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