General

Golden-winged Warbler: Small warbler with gray upperparts and white underparts. Face is white with black mask and throat, and head has a yellow crown. Wings are gray with large yellow patches. Female is duller. Hybridizes with Blue-winged Warbler.

Range and Habitat

Golden-winged Warbler: Breeds from southern Manitoba, across the Great Lakes region, and from New Hampshire south to New Jersey and Iowa, and along the Appalachian Mountains into Georgia. Spends winters from southern Mexico to northern South America. Preferred habitats include abandoned fields and pastures grown to saplings.

Breeding and Nesting

Golden-winged Warbler: Four to seven creamy white eggs with brown splotches and spots are laid in a cup of dead leaves and fibers set on or near the ground in thick vegetation. Eggs are incubated for approximately 10 days by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Golden-winged Warbler: Feeds on insects, especially caterpillars and pupae. Gleans leaves and twigs, concentrating on dead leaf clusters; acrobatic forager, often hanging upside-down like a chickadee.

Vocalization

Golden-winged Warbler: Song is a wheezy "beee-bzz-bzz" with the first syllable higher in pitch.

Similar Species

Golden-winged Warbler: Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler has a white throat. Magnolia Warbler has a yellow throat. Black-throated Green Warbler has a yellow head and face. All three have streaked flanks.