From Opus

Photo by Marcel Gauthier
Breeding Male
Location: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

Dendroica caerulescens

Identification

Adult male unmistakeable; dark blue with black face and black on sides with white belly.
Adult female is plain drab olive-colored with small white spot at base of primaries, white eye-arc, and dark auriculars.

Distribution

Breeds in northeastern North America from western Ontario and northern Michigan east to eastern Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia south to Pennsylvania; also along the Appalachians south to northern Georgia.
Winters in Central America, Bahamas, Caribbean and the tip of Florida.
Rare to casual vagrant in the west with with the most records in California (over 600 records).

Photo by Raulqc
Adult Female, Breeding Plumage
Green Cay Wetlands, Florida, April 2008

Taxonomy

Contains two subspecies.

Subspecies¹

• D. c. caerulescens - breeds north of central Pennsylvania
• D. c. cairnsi - breeds south of central Pennsylvania south along the Appalachians

Habitat

Nearly always found in shady understory of deciduous and mixed woodlands. In migration can be found in most woodlands.

Behaviour

Breeding

Nests in shrubs and small trees.

Diet

Diet mostly insectivorous but will eat seeds and other vegetable matter in the winter.

Vocalisation

Song: Buzzy and rising at the end, zeeer-zeeer-zeeeeee.

Reference

1. Dunn, Jon; Garrett, Kimball. 1997. A Field Guide to Warblers of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780395783214

External Links