Friday's Foto

Unique among North America’s wood-warblers, the Black-and-white Warbler feeds by creeping along limbs and on tree trunks. In fact, one of its old names was “Black-and-white Creeper”. One of our early arriving warblers, they use their thin, slightly down-curved bill to probe bark for mostly moth and butterfly larvae. A sure sign of spring is hearing their high-pitched, squeaky “weesy-weesy-weesy-weesy” song.

Their wintering grounds includes the extreme southern United States to the Peruvian Andes. It is among the earliest species to reach the U.S. Gulf coast in spring. The Black-and-white Warbler breeds from southern Mackenzie, northern Alberta, and central Manitoba east to Newfoundland, and south to southern United States east of Rockies. According to the Boreal Songbird Initiative, an estimated 52% of the species' North American population breeds within the Boreal Forest.

The Black-and-white Warbler’s conservation status via the IUCN red list is "Least Concern" due to its extremely large range and abundant population size.

It’s scientific name, Mniotilta varia, means: moss plucker; diverse.