From Opus

Dendroica caerulescens

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

Adult Female, Breeding Plumage. Photo by Raulqc.

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).

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

Nests in shrubs and small trees. Diet mostly insectivorous but will eat seeds and other vegetable matter in the winter.

Voice

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