Dendroica virens

Description

They have an olive-green crown and back and a bright yellow face and a black throat that continues as stripes down the sides of the chest. They have a black bill, a white belly, and two white wing bars. Females have much less black on their throats, with a white or pale yellow chin and upper throat and variable amounts of black on their breast and flanks.

Voice

The song is a buzzy zoo zee zoo zoo zee or zee zee zee zee zoo zee where the zee notes are on the same pitch and the zoo notes are lower. Their call note is a sharp chip.

Habitat

The black-throated green warbler is found mainly in boreal coniferous forests, but also mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous.

Diet

They eat insects and insect larvae.

Range

They breed in southern Canada, down into the northeastern US and south into the Appalachians as far as northern Alabama. They winter in south Texas, Florida, and through Central America into Colombia.

Other Useful Information

The male black-throated green warbler tends to sing his "zee-zee-zee-zoo-zee" song when he is in the middle of his territory in order to attract females. He sings the "zoo-zee-zoo-zoo-zee" song mostly around the edges of his territory in order to deter other males.

Similar Species

Golden-cheeked warbler, hermit warbler, Townsend’s warbler.