enlarge + Blackpoll Warbler, summer male © Kevin T. Karlson

Perching Birds

Blackpoll Warbler  Dendroica striata

Family: Wood Warblers, Parulidae

Audio: Martyn Stewart, © Naturesound.org

An estimated 82% of the species' North American population breeds within the Boreal Forest.

Description  5 1/2" (14 cm). Breeding male gray streaked above, with black cap, white cheeks and underparts, blackish streaks on sides. Female and nonbreeding male greenish above with vague streaking, yellowish green below. Feet usually pinkish. See Bay-breasted Warbler.

Habitat  Breeds in coniferous forests. During migration is found chiefly in tall trees.

Nesting  4 or 5 brown-spotted white eggs in a twig-and-grass nest, often lined with feathers and usually placed in a small evergreen tree.

Voice  Rapid series of high lisping notes all on 1 pitch, increasing and then decreasing in volume; seet-seet-seet-seet-seet-seet-seet-seet.

Range  Breeds from Alaska and northern Canada to southern Canada and northern New England. Winters in tropics.

Discussion  The Blackpoll is one of the most common warblers in the East during migration and has an enormous breeding range in the northern part of the continent. During migration in late May, and again in September and early October, dozens may be seen in a single day. It is rarely seen west of the Rockies in spring; however, in fall small numbers of mostly young birds occur regularly along the Pacific Coast. Like all wood warblers, these birds migrate at night; sometimes large numbers, attracted to bright lights on overcast or stormy nights, collide with such obstacles as lighthouses, television towers, and tall buildings.