From Opus

Photo by David Roach

Polioptila caerulea

[edit] Identification

4 1/2 -5" (11-13 cm). Smaller than a sparrow. Tiny, slender, long-tailed bird, blue-gray above and white below, with white eye ring and broad white borders on black tail. Looks like a miniature mockingbird.

[edit] Distribution

Breeds from northern California, Colorado, southern Great Lakes region, southern Ontario, and New Hampshire southward to Guatemala. Winters from southern California, Gulf Coast, and Carolinas to Honduras and the Greater Antilles.

[edit] Taxonomy

Polytypic. Consists of eight subspecies.

[edit] Habitat

Deciduous woodlands, streamside thickets, live oaks, pinyon-juniper, chaparral.

[edit] Behaviour

Nesting: 4 or 5 brown-spotted pale blue eggs in a small, beautifully made cup of plant down and spider webs, decorated with flakes of lichen and fastened to a horizontal branch at almost any height above ground.

[edit] Vocalisation

Song is a thin, musical warble. Call note a distinctive, whining pzzzz, with a nasal quality.

[edit] External Links