| Blue-winged Warbler | |
|---|---|
 Adult male | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Parulidae |
| Genus: | Vermivora |
| Species: | Vermivora cyanoptera |
The Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera) is a fairly common New World Warbler. Even though this warbler is not very shy, it can be challenging to find it as it forages in the dense brush.
Appearance[]
Adult Blue-winged Warblers have a long, dark pointed beak. They are 4.3-4.7 inches (11-12 centimeters) in length, 0.3 ounces (9 grams) in weight, and 5.9 inches (15 centimeters) in wingspan. This bird has olive-green upperparts and bold yellow underparts. It also has a bold yellow crown with and black eye line. Its wings are blue-gray with 2 white wing bars. The Blue-winged Warbler's undertail coverts are yellowish to white. Females are often paler than males with a grayer eyeline and a more olive crown. Immature warblers have a pink bill, yellow undertail coverts, and pale wing bars.
Voice[]
The simple beee-buzz primary song of the male Blue-winged Warbler, as if inhaling on the bee and exhaling on the buzz, is often heard in brushy fields and thickets in the east during summer. A longer high-pitched buzz, with twittering notes at the start and finish, is also sang. The primary song acts to attract a mate, while the secondary song acts to defend territories against rival males. Birds give a short, quiet chip when alarmed or in flight. Females also chip when building the nest.
Behavior[]
A Blue-winged Warbler flies up to a suet feeder.
Feeding[]
The diet of the Blue-winged Warbler consists of mainly insects and spiders. It usually feeds on small insects, including beetles, ants, caterpillars, and grasshoppers. This bird usually forages by moving about in low shrubs and trees, sometimes dangling from branches and leaves like a chickadee. It commonly probes its bill into curled leaves. It also searches rather deliberately on outer tips of branches, perhaps probing into buds and flowers. This bird can also be found at bird feeders searching for sunflower seeds.
Nesting[]
This warbler commonly hybridizes with the Golden-winged Warbler, producing Brewster's Warblers. Those warblers are fertile hybrids that may backcross with the parent species and with each other; second-generation hybrids include a rare type known as Lawrence's Warblers.
Arriving to breed a bit earlier than the Golden-winged Warbler, the Blue-winged Warbler begins breeding in the first week of May and end in early to mid-June. The nest is well concealed in grass or blackberry vines, sometimes under a bush or sapling. It is placed low in a bush or close to or on the ground. The nest is bulky and shaped like a deep cone, and usually built by the female alone. It is constructed of dead leaves, grass, and beech or grapevine bark, and lined with plant fibers or animal hair. The clutch consists of 4-7 eggs that are white with fine brown spots on the larger end. The female performs incubation for 10-11 days. The young, of which both parents feed, leave the nest 8-11 days after hatching.
Blue-winged Warbler nests are often parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds,
Distribution and Habitat[]
The Blue-winged Warbler breeds around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and in most of the eastern half of the USA. It is a medium to long-distance migrant, migrating at night to winter in Central America and the Caribbean. Its range is extending northwards, where it is replacing the very closely related Golden-winged Warbler. Its breeding habitats are shrublands, scrubby areas, thickets, and forest edges. Habitats rested and foraged in during migration include open woodlands, shrublands, thorn forests, gardens, and parks. Evergreen and tropical deciduous forest and edge, scrubby areas, and hedgerows are where the Blue-winged Warbler stays in during winter; at that time, the bird may feature in mixed-species flocks.
Gallery[]
