From Opus

Male
Photo by cgphoto
Photo taken: Acadia National Park, Maine, USA, June 2007

Setophaga virens

Dendroica virens

[edit] Identification

Length 4.5-5 inches.
Male:

• Yellow face with broad olive eyestripe
• Throat and sides of upper chest black
• Greenish olive crown, nape, and upperparts with indistinct dark centres
• Dark wings and tail
• Two white wing-bars
  

Female
Photo by Fernando Cerra
Photo taken: South Padre Island, Texas, USA, May 2004

Female:

• Auriculars washed olive
• Whitish throat and sides of chest mottled black
  

Fall:

• Bright yellow-green face
• Darker ear patch
• Bright green unstreaked back
• Prominent white wing-bars
• Mostly grayish-white underparts
• Blackish streaks down the side
• Only a faint yellow wash below

Sexually dimorphic.

[edit] Similar Species

In the west, the two most likely confusing species are Townsend’s and Hermit Warblers. Hermit usually has plainer face, greyer back and lacks streaking on the sides. Townsend’s has a more contrasting face, often streaking on the back and usually a much more yellow upper breast.

Either a very dull immature Townsend’s or a Hermit X Townsend’s hybrid are likely to cause the most confusion. In these and all cases the wash of yellow across the vent just behind the legs is diagnostic for Black-throated Green.

[edit] Distribution

Photo by Stanley Jones
Quetzal Valley, San Gerardo de Dota, San José Province, Cordillera de Talamancas, Costa Rica, March 2007

Breeds from Saskatchewan east to eastern Quebec and Newfoundland; northern Minnesota and Michigan east to Pennsylvania; also along the Appalachians south to northern Alabama. Waynei subspecies found along the Atlantic coastal plain.

Winters east Mexico to central Panama. Also winters in the southern tip of Florida. Rare but regular vagrant in the western United States.

Accidental vagrant to Greenland (3 records) and Germany (1 19th century record).

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Subspecies waynei is generally considered invalid^[2].
Formerly placed in genus Dendroica.

[edit] Habitat

Breeds in open coniferous and mixed forests; also in cypress swamps in the coastal Carolinas. Observed at heights around 2,195 m.

In migration found nearly anywhere with trees.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Flight

Occasionally hovers whilst feeding.

[edit] Breeding

The nest is an open cup and usually placed in the fork of a tree. The clutch consists of three to five eggs.

[edit] Diet

Diet is mainly insectivorous.

[edit] Vocalisation

Song: A buzzy zoo-zee-zoo-zoo-zee and other variations

[edit] Reference

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. Dunn, Jon; Garrett, Kimball. 1997. A Field Guide to Warblers of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780395783214
4. Cornell Lab or Ornithology
5. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links