How to Identify aBlackpoll Warbler
Setophaga striata · 4.7–5.9 in (12–15 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Solid black cap, clean white cheeks, black moustache, streaked black-and-white back and bright orange feet.
Female
Streaky olive-gray with faint streaking and the same distinctive pale orange or yellowish feet.
Male photo: Cephas / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Female photo: Wildreturn / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
Field marks
- Solid black cap with a clean white cheek on the male
- Orange or straw-yellow legs and feet
- Streaked back and flanks
- Two white wingbars
Similar species
What it sounds like
An extremely high, thin series of identical "tsit" notes that swells in the middle then fades away.
Behaviour that gives it away
Flies non-stop over the Atlantic from the Northeast to South America, up to three days in the air without landing.
Habitat & range
Northern spruce forest in summer; all kinds of woodland during migration.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in northern and eastern North America you are, it is a summer visitor that arrives to breed and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.
What it eats
Insects, especially caterpillars and aphids, plus berries before migration.
Did you know?
It nearly doubles its weight in fat, then flies non-stop over the open Atlantic for up to three days to reach South America.
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