Dendroica caerulescens

Description

Males have a black throat, checks, and sides. They have blue upper parts and are white underneath. They have a white patch at the base of their primary feathers. Males in the Appalachian Mountains south of Susquehanna drainage average darker blue than northern ones. Females have pale eyebrows on a dark olive brown face and upperparts. Their underneath is a buffy color. They also have a white patch on their primaries, but it is smaller than those of males.

Voice

The song is slow, with four or five wheezy zwee zwee zwee zweeeee or zur zurr zur zreee (with the last note being of a higher pitch). The call is a sharp, singe dit (similar to the call of a dark-eyed junco).

Habitat

The black-throated blue warbler can be found in deciduous forest, and prefer the lower to mid level branches of trees. They prefer thick undergrowth, particularly mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia.

Diet

Insects.

Range

They are primarily a northeastern bird species (they are as far west as northern Minnesota). They do, however, go down in the south through the Appalachian Mountain range.

Other Useful Information

This is one of the easiest birds to identify (males at least) because males keep brightly colored plumage all year long.