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Blackpoll Warbler | Setophaga striata
Zwartkopzanger | Reinita estriada | Mariquita-de-perna-clara
The Blackpoll Warbler breeds in the taiga of Alaska and Canada and winters in Amazonia, one of the longest migration routes of any warbler. In autumn many birds fly non-stop from the east coast of North America across the Atlantic Ocean to northern South America. In the guide area it is mainly a winter visitor in the canopy of the Amazonian lowlands.
Voice
The call is a loud chip, in flight a thin tseet. The song is a series of very high, thin tsit notes that swells and then fades; in the guide area you hear it mainly in March and April, just before departure.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13–14 cm, a fairly large, long-winged warbler. In non-breeding plumage the upperparts are olive-green with fine dark streaks, the head yellowish green with a faint dark eye-stripe and a narrow pale supercilium. Throat and breast are dull yellow with faint dark streaks on the sides; the belly and undertail coverts are white. Two white wing bars and white edges to the tertials. The legs, and especially the soles of the feet, are pale yellowish or orange-brown. In March and April the male has a black cap, white cheeks, a black malar stripe and a grey, black-streaked back; the female is then greyish green and streaked.
Confusion species
Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea is very similar in non-breeding plumage, but has an almost unstreaked breast, buff to ochre undertail coverts, often a wash of chestnut on the flanks and dark legs. Female Blackburnian Warblers Setophaga fusca have a dark cheek patch and pale stripes on the back. Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia resembles the breeding male, but is streaked black and white throughout, including the crown, and creeps along trunks and branches.
Habitat
In winter in the canopy of humid lowland forest, várzea, forest edges, riverbanks and tall trees in semi-open country, mainly below 1000 m; on passage also in the Andes and in gardens. It searches for insects in the foliage and also eats fruit in winter; it joins mixed flocks. It does not breed in the guide area; the nest is placed low in young spruces in the north.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: passage migrant in the north and in the Andes, winter visitor mainly in the eastern lowlands (Orinoco and Amazon regions). Ecuador: winter visitor in the eastern lowlands, in the west and the Andes mainly on passage. Peru: winter visitor in the Amazonian lowlands and the foothills. Bolivia: winter visitor in the north and the lowlands of Beni and Pando. Outside the guide area the species breeds from Alaska to eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States and winters mainly in Venezuela and Brazilian Amazonia.
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Look between November and March in mixed flocks in the canopy along rivers and forest edges in the Amazonian lowlands. In March and April the singing males in breeding plumage stand out.
Conservation status
Near Threatened. The population has declined steeply in recent decades, probably through habitat loss on the breeding and wintering grounds and the risks of the long sea crossing.
Scientific name
Setophaga striata | (Forster, 1772)
Forster described the species in 1772 as Muscicapa striata; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Setophaga was introduced in 1827 by Swainson. The genus name comes from Greek sēs (genitive sētos), 'moth', and -phagos, '-eating', so 'moth-eater'. The species name comes from Latin striatus, 'striped', for the streaked upperparts and underparts. The specimen the first description was based on came from Fort Severn, Ontario, Canada.