Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera)

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A Field Guide to Warblers of North America (The Peterson Field Guide Series). by Kimball L. Garrett, Jon L. Dunn, Cindy House (Illustrator)

Warblers of Eastern North America

Color Photograph: © Corel Corp.

Recording by John R. Sauer, U.S. Geological Survey

Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera)

Identification: 4.25 inches from tip to bill to tip of tail.

Breeding Male: The breeding male is gray above with a prominent yellow crown to the head. The head is adorned with a white band (supercilium) over the eyes and a broad black band through and below the eye. The underside is dull white or gray with a black throat. Wing bars are present, yellow, and fused into a single yelllow patch.

Female: Similar to the male, but the black markings are not as distinctive.

Fall Male and Female: Similar to the breeding male and female.

Immature: Similar to the female.

Similar Species: The combination of gray, black, and yellow is uniquely distinctive for the species.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Golden-winged Warbler has a restricted breeding range from New York and Massachusetts in the east westward to southeastern Manitoba, and south through Pennsylvania and the Appalachian Mountains.

Overwintering Range: American tropics.

Habitat: The Golden-winged Warbler is primarily breeds in secondary growth and abandoned pastures and fields. Its habitat tends to be slightly drier than that of the Blue-winged Warbler.

Food: Insects.

Behavior: The song is slow and insect like, of the type see-bzzz, bzzz.

Reproduction: The nest is made of dead leaves and plant fibers and placed near the ground in thick vegetation. The clutch consists of 3 to 6 white eggs with purple spots. Incubation takes about 10 days and the young are ready to leave the nest about 10 days after hatching.

Notes: Despite their superficial diffierences the Golden-winged Warbler and the Blue-winged Warbler are closely related and frequently hybridize in the field. The hybrids show a variety of mixtures of the characters of the two species. Two of these hybrid types are known as Lawrence's Warbler and Brewster's Warbler .