Blackpoll Warbler

Male. Photo by Glen Tepke.
Public Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 8 May 2004.

Setophaga striata

Dendroica striata

Identification

Summer male

• Dark-streaked brown back
• White face
• Black crown
• White underparts with black streaks
• Two white wing bars
  

Female

Female
Photo by Glen Tepke
Central Park, New York, USA, May 2004

• Paler than summer male
• Grey crown and face
  

Non-breeding

• Green heads
• Dark-streaked green upperparts
• Yellow breast
• Yellow extending to the belly in young birds.

Distribution

Breeds in northern boreal areas from Alaska south to central Canada (absent only from southern Canada and extreme arctic Canada. In the United States found in northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and in the Adirondacks and Catskills in New York.

First Fall Plumage
Photo by etow
Ohio, USA, October 2006

Winters in South America. Casual to accidental vagrant to Greenland (7 records), Iceland (6 records), Great Britain (35 records), France (2 records), and Galapagos Islands (1 record).

Blackpolls are notable for their fall migration route, when they take off from south-eastern Canada and north-eastern US and fly non-stop over the Atlantic to northern South America. They average 11 grams when they depart and 7 when they arrive.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].
Formerly placed in genus Dendroica.

Habitat

Mature deciduous trees, coniferous forest, particularly spruce, cypress trees in coastal scrub. Swampy woodland. Also urban parks on migration.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes insects, but berries are taken in the winter.

Breeding

The 4-9 eggs are laid in a cup-shaped nest which is placed in a conifer.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. BF Member observations
3. Wikipedia

External Links

Search for photos of Blackpoll Warbler in the gallery