Black-Throated Blue Warbler

Setophaga caerulescens

Male and female Black-Throated Blue Warblers differ dramatically. They were originally believed to be two different species. Males and females use different habitats on their wintering grounds. The males prefer forests at lower to middle elevations, while the females use higher elevation shrubbier habitat.

Today’s Taxonomists recognise two subspecies of Black-Throated Blue Warbler.

• S. c. caerulescens breeds from southeastern Canada south into the northern United States from Minnesota east to Pennsylvania. They spend winters in the Greater Antilles and adjacent islands.
• S. c. cairnsi breeds in the Appalachians from southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia south to northern Georgia. They spend winters in the Greater Antilles.

I first met Black-Throated Blue Warblers at Magee Marsh on the Ohio shores of Lake Erie. Spring migration was in full swing, and birds were stacked up waiting to cross into Canada at Point Pelee. A few weeks later, I met them once more in Ontario Canada at Long Point Provincial Park on the north shore of Lake Erie. These handsome birds are certain to brighten the day of anyone on the hunt to meet warblers.