Vermivora cyanoptera
Blue-winged Warbler, male
The Blue-winged Warbler is a colorful wood warbler. The sexes are dissimilar. Adult males have a mainly yellow head and underparts, and an olive-yellow nape and back. The head has a thin black eye stripe, and the bluish wings have two white wingbars. Adult females are less colorful than an adult male and have duller wingbars. Immatures are similar to, but duller than, an adult female.
The Blue-winged Warbler hybridizes with the Golden-winged Warbler, resulting in distinct hybrids known as Brewster’s and Lawrence’s warblers. A male Brewster’s has a mostly pale gray head and upperparts, and whitish underparts; yellow is restricted to the forehead and breast. A male Lawrence’s is like a dull male Blue-winged with a dark throat and eye patch. Hybrid females have duller plumage than their hybrid male counterparts.
The Blue-winged Warbler is present as a breeding species mainly from May to August. It spends the rest of the year in Central America and the Caribbean region. It searches unobtrusively for insects among the foliage of shrubs and small trees.
Brewster’s Warbler, male
Blue-winged Warbler, female
Lawrence’s Warbler, female
FACT FILE
LENGTH 4.75 in (12 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates
HABITAT Scrub-colonized meadows and young woodland
STATUS Widespread and locally common summer visitor
VOICE Song is typically a two-part buzzing trill, each phrase with different tones. Call is a sharp tsik
