Blackpoll Warbler Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesBlackpoll Warbler
Breeding male
Small songbird with a short tail and a small thin bill. Breeding males have a black cap, a white cheek, and black streaking on the back and flanks. Note orangish legs.
© Simon Boivin / Macaulay LibraryQuebec, May 29, 2017Breeding female
Breeding females look similar to males, but have a finely streaked cap. Note broken eyering, dark eyeline, and orangish legs.
© Brian Sullivan / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, June 30, 2019Breeding female
Some breeding females have a yellow wash on the breast and head. Note finely streaked cap, broken eyering, dark eyeline, and orangish legs.
© Donna Pomeroy / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, June 09, 2017Nonbreeding female/immature
Nonbreeding females/immatures are washed in pale yellow with blurry streaking on the flanks. Note bold white wingbars.
© Ryan Schain / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, October 28, 2016Nonbreeding female/immature
Nonbreeding females/immatures are washed in pale yellow with blurry streaking on the flanks. Picks insects and larvae from leaves and twigs.
© Mary Keleher / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, October 26, 2012Nonbreeding female/immature
Nonbreeding females/immatures are washed in pale yellow with blurry streaking on the flanks. Note bold white wingbars and orangish legs.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, September 17, 2012Breeding male
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryNewfoundland and Labrador, June 06, 1997Not all videos have sound
Breeding male
Uses evergreen and deciduous forests during migration. Breeding males have a distinctive black cap and white cheeks.
© Darrell Lawson / Macaulay LibraryMichigan, May 21, 2017Breeding male
Breeding males have dark streaking down the back.
© Kathy Marche / Macaulay LibraryNewfoundland and Labrador, June 03, 2017Breeding male
Breeds mainly in spruce and tamarack forests in Canada's boreal forests.
© Evan Lipton / Macaulay LibraryNew Hampshire, June 01, 2017Similar SpeciesBlack-and-white Warbler
Adult male
Black-and-white Warblers have a striped (not solid) crown and a black (not white) cheek. They also creep up and down trees unlike Blackpoll Warblers.
© Ryan Schain / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, May 06, 2017Similar SpeciesCape May Warbler
Adult female/immature male
Females and immature Cape May Warblers have finer streaking on the throat and are often yellower below than Blackpoll Warblers.
© Lucas Berrigan / Macaulay LibraryNova Scotia, September 01, 2016Similar SpeciesBay-breasted Warbler
Nonbreeding female/immature male
Nonbreeding Bay-breasted Warblers have thicker wingbars with darker feathers between them than Blackpoll Warblers, and they usually show chestnut-washed flanks.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, December 27, 2015Similar SpeciesBlackburnian Warbler
Female/immature
Female/immature Blackburnian Warblers have a triangular ear patch and tend to have an orangish wash on the face and throat that Blackpolls lack.
© William Higgins / Macaulay LibraryVirginia, September 15, 2016Similar SpeciesPine Warbler
Adult female
Female Pine Warblers have unstreaked upperparts unlike Blackpoll Warblers and a brighter yellow throat.
© Ryan Schain / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, May 09, 2016Rotate Your Device to Better Compare
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Species in This Family
New World Warblers(Order: Passeriformes, Family: Parulidae)
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