Birdfinding.info ⇒ Generally common across most of its range (see Breeding Bird Survey Abundance Map in Notes, below). In winter, it is one of the most numerous songbirds in the forests of Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola, where most of the global population appears to concentrate. On spring and fall migration, it becomes locally common along the Eastern Seaboard and Appalachians, especially in Florida and Georgia, where its migratory paths converge.
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Setophaga caerulescens
Breeds in eastern North America. Winters mainly in the West Indies.
Breeding. Deciduous and mixed forests with heavy undergrowth from southwestern Ontario and northern Minnesota east to Nova Scotia, and south through the Appalachians to northern Georgia. Occasionally nests west of its usual range, to central Saskatchewan.
Nonbreeding. Winters in all types of woodland, from coastal scrub to mountain forests, on the Greater Antilles, Bahamas, and Caymans. Also, more sparingly, in southern Florida and around the perimeter of the Caribbean Basin—mainly the eastern Yucatán Peninsula and adjacent islands, but also in much smaller numbers southward in Central America, the mountains of northern Colombia and Venezuela, and the Lesser Antilles.
Movements. Spring and fall migration are primarily along the Eastern Seaboard and Appalachians. In fall, strays in small numbers across much of the western U.S. and Mexico, with most vagrants found in coastal California.
Identification
Male is unmistakable, with mostly blue upperparts, white underparts, black face and sides, and a bold white patch at the base of the primaries.
Depending on lighting, and perhaps other factors, the shade of blue varies widely from bright sapphire to steely, dark, or dull.
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male. (Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York; May 7, 2017.) © Jason VanEtten
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male. (Magee Marsh, Ohio; May 13, 2005.) © Jeffrey Moore
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male showing vivid blue upperparts. (Itaska, New York; May 4, 2017.) © George Chiu
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male showing full extent of white patch in wings. (Key Largo, Florida; April 13, 2017.) © Tasha Trujillo
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male. (Rangeley, Maine; May 31, 2018.) © Cory Gregory
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male showing dark steely-blue upperparts. (Val-d’Or, Quebec; May 21, 2017.) © Raymond Ladurantaye
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male. (La Sal, Dominican Republic; January 20, 2016.) © Dax M. Román E.
Black-throated Blue Warbler, male. (Tifft Nature Preserve, Buffalo, New York; May 9, 2015.) © Sue Barth
Black-throated Blue Warbler, first-year male, with only marginal black on the sides. (El Cubano National Park, Cuba; January 2, 2014.) © Guy Poisson
Female is mostly olive above and beige below. Often has a bluish tinge on the upperparts.
Typically shows a distinct whitish patch at the base of the primaries, and whitish eyebrow and crescent below the eye. These features vary in their prominence and can be subtle in some individuals, especially first-year females. The face is often darkened, giving a “raccoon mask” impression.
Black-throated Blue Warbler, female. (Woodlawn Beach State Park, New York; September 30, 2017.) © Sue Barth
Black-throated Blue Warbler, female. (Lake Lynn, Raleigh, North Carolina; October 23, 2018.) © Kimberlie Dewey
Black-throated Blue Warbler, immature female lacking a distinct wing patch. (San Diego, California; October 21, 2017.) © C. Jackson
Black-throated Blue Warbler, female with indistinct facial markings. (Monhegan Island, Maine; May 16, 2011.) © Doug Hitchcox
Black-throated Blue Warbler, female. (Monhegan Island, Maine; October 7, 2012.) © Jeremiah Trimble
Black-throated Blue Warbler, female with strong facial markings. (Alley Island Overlook, Hancock, Maine; September 9, 2017.) © Michael J. Good
Black-throated Blue Warbler, female with strong facial markings. (Morgan’s Point, Ontario; September 15, 2017.) © Joshua D. Vandermeulen
Black-throated Blue Warbler, female with strong blue tinge on upperparts. (Alcoa Road, Dominican Republic; January 18, 2014.) © Dax M. Román E.
Notes
Polytypic species consisting of two recognized subspecies.
References
Alderfer, J., and J.L. Dunn. 2014. National Geographic Complete Birds of North America (Second Edition). National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.
Ascanio, D., G.A. Rodriguez, and R. Restall. 2017. Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London.
Curson, J. 2018. Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/61470. (Accessed January 16, 2018.)
Dunn, J.L., and K.L. Garrett. 1997. A Field Guide to Warblers of North America. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
eBird. 2019. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed March 10, 2019.)
Fagan, J., and O. Komar. 2016. Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of Northern Central America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York.
Garrido, O.H, and A. Kirkconnell. 2000. Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.
Garrigues, R., and R. Dean. 2014. The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide (Second Edition). Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.
Haynes-Sutton, A., A. Downer, R. Sutton, and Y.-J. Rey-Millet. 2009. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Howell, S.N.G., and S. Webb. 1995. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Latta, S., C. Rimmer, A. Keith, J. Wiley, H. Raffaele, K. McFarland, and E. Fernandez. 2006. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
McMullan, M., and T. Donegan. 2014, Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia (Second Edition). Fundación Proaves de Colombia, Bogotá.
Raffaele, H. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Ridgely, R.S., and J.A. Gwynne. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Panama (Second Edition). Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Ridgely, R.S., and G. Tudor. 2009. Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America: The Passerines. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Wells, J.V., and A.C. Wells. 2017. Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.