General

Blue-winged Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with olive-green upperparts and yellow underparts. Head is yellow with thin black eye line and olive-green nape. Wings are dark gray with two white bars. Female has dull olive-green nape and crown.

Range and Habitat

Blue-winged Warbler: Breeds from Minnesota, central Iowa, Wisconsin, southern Ontario, and central New England south through east-central and Atlantic coast states to northern Georgia. Winters in the tropics. Prefers abandoned fields and pastures; forest clearings and edges with clumps of catbrier, blackberry, and various bushes and young trees.

Breeding and Nesting

Blue-winged Warbler: Four to seven brown and gray flecked white eggs are laid in a grass-lined cup of dead leaves and fibers, and built on or very near the ground in thick undergrowth. Incubation ranges from 10 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Blue-winged Warbler: Diet consists of insects and spiders; forages in trees and shrubs.

Vocalization

Blue-winged Warbler: Song is a buzzing "beeee buzzzz", with the second note lower and slightly trilled. A second song is more complex, consisting of buzzing notes followed by a variable number of short musical notes.

Similar Species

Blue-winged Warbler: Occasionally hybridizes with 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).