Blue-winged warbler Vermivora pinus

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4.25 inches
• Small, active, insect-eating bird
• Thin, very pointed bill
• Yellow head and underparts
• White undertail coverts
• Black eyeline
• Olive nape and back
• Blue-gray wings with two white wing bars
• Pinkish legs
• Females and immatures have paler yellow heads and breasts

Similar species:

The yellow, unstreaked head and underparts and the black eyeline identify the Blue-winged Warbler. The Blue-winged Warbler occassionally hybridizes with the Golden-winged Warbler to produce offspring with characteristics of both parents. Some have mostly white underparts (Brewster's Warbler), while some have the yellow plumage of the Blue-winged but the dark throat of the Golden-winged (Lawrence's Warbler).

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.