Species
Black-throated blue warbler
Setophaga caerulescens
A deep blue warbler with a black throat and a white 'pocket handkerchief' on its wing.
Photo Dan Vickers (opens in a new tab) / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
At a glance
- Size
- About 13 cm long
- Weight
- About 9 to 12 g
- Habitat
- Deciduous forests with dense understorey
- Diet
- Insects and berries
- In Georgia
- A summer resident in the mountains; a migrant elsewhere
- Voice
- A lazy, buzzy "I'm so la-zeee"
- Rabies vector
- No
Identification
- Male
- Deep blue above; black face and throat; white belly; white wing spot
- Female
- Olive-brown with a small white wing spot
- Told apart from
- Cerulean warbler, which is sky-blue with a white throat
- Where to look
- Dense understorey in mountain forests
Behaviour
Black-throated blue warblers forage in the shrub layer.
Why they matter
Males and females look so different that they were once thought to be separate species. The warbler depends on forests with dense understorey.
Reproduction and lifecycle
Nest — A cup in a low shrub
Eggs — Usually four
Incubation — About 12 days
Chicks — Fed by both parents
Lifespan — Several years
Living around people
- Dense forest understorey supports them.
Misconceptions
- Males and females look alike. In this species they look like different birds.
Related species
Seasonal activity
When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Active nests | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Notes | In the Caribbean | In the Caribbean | In the Caribbean | Migrating north | Nesting in the mountains | Nesting | Young fledging | Migrants | Migrants | Last migrants | In the Caribbean | In the Caribbean |
Where it lives
Recorded in 34 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.
United States
- Alabamapassing through
- Connecticutbreeding
- Delawarepassing through
- District of Columbiapassing through
- Floridapassing through
- Georgiabreeding
- Illinoispassing through
- Indianapassing through
- Kentuckybreeding
- Mainebreeding
- Marylandbreeding
- Massachusettsbreeding
- Michiganbreeding
- Minnesotabreeding
- New Hampshirebreeding
- New Jerseypassing through
- New Yorkbreeding
- North Carolinabreeding
- Ohiopassing through
- Pennsylvaniabreeding
- Rhode Islandpassing through
- South Carolinapassing through
- Tennesseebreeding
- Vermontbreeding
- Virginiabreeding
- West Virginiabreeding
- Wisconsinbreeding
Canada
If you found one
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