Black-throated Green Warbler

Overview

Black-throated Green Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with olive-green upperparts, black-streaked flanks, and white underparts. Face is yellow with black eyestripe and bill. Crown is olive green. Throat and upper breast are black. Wings are dark with two white bars. Tail is dark. Black legs and feet.

Range and Habitat

Black-throated Green Warbler: Breeds from eastern British Columbia, Ontario, and Newfoundland south to Alberta, Minnesota, Ohio, northern New Jersey, and in the mountains to Georgia. Spends winters from Florida and Texas southward. Preferred habitats include open stands of hemlock or pine.

INTERESTING FACTS

The male Black-throated Green Warbler sings persistently during the breeding season. One individual was observed singing 466 songs in one hour.
Their population appears to be increasing in the southern parts of their breeding range, but decreasing in the north. This decline comes from the loss of mature forest on wintering grounds. Another reason is aerial spraying to control spruce budworms and other forest pests.
Unlike other related wood warbler species, they are not known as a major predator of spruce budworms, except when the insect is at epidemic levels.
A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

The Black-throated Green Warbler is a small songbird native to the New World. It is frequently found in coniferous and mixed woodlands of eastern North America and western Canada, or the cypress swamplands of the southern Atlantic coastline. Nests are built near the trunks of trees in an open cup shape. During winter months, the Black-throated Green Warbler typically migrates to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies or southern Florida. This species forages in low vegetation for insects and berries. They also may hover over or catch their prey in-flight. This species is susceptible to nest parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird, and is classified as Least Concern.