Friday's Foto

Black-and-white Warbler, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY

The Black-and-white Warbler shows that a bird doesn't need flashy colors to be stunning. Unlike other warblers, this specie's feeding strategy is more similar to the nuthatches and Brown Creeper, which hop along tree trunks and branches in search of insects. Its scientific name, Mniotilta varia, means "pluck moss" and "variegated"; the genus name likely refers to its method of plucking insects out of crevices. Common to abundant on migration in New York, this tiny, 8 gram bird breeds in the Boreal forests of central and eastern Canada, as well as, through much of the eastern US. They overwinter from southern Florida south, through the Bahamas, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to northern South America. The IUCN Red List lists this species as "Least Concern" due to is population size and large range, although numbers are declining.