Black-throated gray warbler Dendroica nigrescens

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4 inches
• Small, active, insect-eating bird
• Thin, pointed bill
• White wing bars
• Dark legs

Adult male:

• Black crown, cheeks and throat
• Broad, white line behind eye and malar streak
• Yellow spot on lores
• Gray upperparts with black streaks on back
• White underparts with black streaks on flanks

Female, basic and immature:

• Plumage similar to male
• White throat
• Crown and cheeks dark gray

Similar species:

The lack of yellow in the plumage of the Black-throated Gray Warbler (except for the lores) distinguishes it from all warblers except the Blackpoll (alternate male) and Black-and-white Warblers. Both those species have different face patterns and the Black-and-white Warbler behaves quite differently preferring to forage on the trunks and main branches of trees nuthatchlike rather than in the leaves and smaller twigs.

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