Setophaga kirtlandii
male
Kirtland’s Warbler is a well-marked songbird. The sexes are separable. Adult males have mostly blue-gray upperparts with dark streaks on the back and two white wingbars. The head pattern comprises a blue-gray hood, a broken white eyering, and a yellow throat. The rest of the underparts are also mostly yellow with dark streaks on the flanks; the color grades to white on the undertail. Adult females are similar to an adult male but less strikingly marked and less colorful. Immatures are similar to an adult female but the plumage colors are even duller, with buff fringes to the back feathers and wing coverts.
Kirtland’s Warbler is present in a very restricted breeding range in Michigan, mainly from May to August; it is the rarest wood warbler in the region. The species spends the rest of the year in the Bahamas. It often forages at relatively low levels and pumps its tail up and down while feeding.
female
Kitchin & Hurst/All Canada Photos/Alamy Stock Photo: Kirtland’s Warbler female.
FACT FILE
LENGTH 5.75 in (14.5 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates
HABITAT Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) forests
STATUS Rare summer visitor
VOICE Song is a rich tchew-tchew-tchwe-wee. Call is a soft tchip
