Black-throated Gray Warbler

Dendroica nigrescensOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Codes: Common Name: BTYW Scientific Name: DENNIG ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178896

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Overview

Black-throated Gray Warbler: Small warbler, black-marked, slate-gray upperparts, black streaks on flanks, white underparts. Head has black hood and throat, sharply contrasting white eyebrow and cheek stripe, and yellow spot in front of eye. Wings are dark with two white bars. Black bill, legs, feet.

Range and Habitat

Black-throated Gray Warbler: Breeds from southern British Columbia (except Vancouver Island), Washington, Idaho, and Colorado southward. Spends winters in the southwest U.S. and Mexico. Preferred habitats include shrubby openings in coniferous forests or mixed woods, dry scrub oak, pinyon and juniper, chaparral, and other low brushy areas.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"weezy- weezy-weezy- weezy- wueeo"

Interesting Facts

The Black-throated Gray Warbler is considered a short-distance migrant, moving from its breeding areas in the western United States only as far south as Mexico.

Migrating warblers follow mountain ranges and the Pacific coastline southward. Despite these landmarks, however, some get lost. A few turn up every year in the eastern states as vagrants.

They pretend to have a broken wing to distract intruders from finding their nests.

A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Imran Kahn

Range Map for Black-throated Gray Warbler

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Black-throated Gray Warbler

● Song: "weezy- weezy-weezy- weezy- wueeo"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-throated Gray Warbler: Feeds mainly on insects such as moths, butterflies, beetles, and ants. Also eats leaf galls and a few spiders.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-throated Gray Warbler: Four to five white eggs, with brown and purple spots and blotches, are laid in a tightly woven plant-fiber cup in a bush or tree, usually less than 10 feet above the ground. Eggs are incubated for approximately 12 days by the female.

● Similar species: Black-throated Gray Warbler: Black-and-white Warbler has more heavily streaked breast, striped crown, and prefers to forage on trunks and main branches of trees rather than in leaves and smaller twigs.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight on rapidly beating wings.

Black-throated Gray Warbler Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Black-throated Gray Warbler: Breeds from southern British Columbia (except Vancouver Island), Washington, Idaho, and Colorado southward. Spends winters in the southwest U.S. and Mexico. Preferred habitats include shrubby openings in coniferous forests or mixed woods, dry scrub oak, pinyon and juniper, chaparral, and other low brushy areas.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common to common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.3 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Eyebrow

Also called the supercilicum or superciliary it is the arch of feathers over each eye.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America