A Bestiary: Songbirds ~ Black-throated Blue Warbler

For two years now I have been writing about the beasts that share our wildlife habitat here in Western Massachusetts. One installment a month published over at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. This month, while most of these birds would be nearing their overwinter sites, I offer the twenty-fourth installment of 'A Bestiary . . . Tales from A Wildlife Garden' featuring a small songbird . . . the stocky and striking Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens.

You can learn a bit more about this industrious warbler by clicking on the link above. If you live on the southern most tip of Florida you may have them overwintering in your garden. The Black-throated Blue Warbler dons its slate-blue and black markings all year round which greatly helps in identifying it correctly. The female may confuse the observer, however, as she is quite different and once experts thought the two to be different species. The white patch on the wings of both female and male warblers is one telltale sign. These two do not necessarily choose the same winter site habitat making it even more difficult to pair them up. The male chooses a lower forest elevation where the female is more lofty in her choice of higher shrubby microclimates.