Black-and-white warbler Mniotilta varia

Identification Tips:

• Small, active, insect-eating bird
• Long thin bill
• Creeps along treetrunks and branches like a nuthatch
• Black and white plumage

Male:

• Black crown, cheek, and throat (throat white in Fall and Winter)
• White supercilium, malar streak and central crown stripe
• Streaked breast and flanks
• Spotted undertail coverts
• Black back with white streaks
• Black wings with white wing bars
• Black legs
• Female is similar to male but has a white throat, grayish cheeks, and buffy flanks
• Immature male similar to female but lacks buffy wash on underparts

Similar species:

The Black-and-white Warbler is perhaps the easiest warbler to identify with its distinctive nuthatch-like feeding strategy and contrasting black and white plumage. The male Blackpoll Warbler is also black and white but lacks the white supercilium and doesn't creep along trunks and branches