Rondeau Ric

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 2, 2024.  Second warbler of the season to have a bath, the other was a yellow warbler. Vermivora cyanoptera Blue-winged Warblers hybridize extensively with Golden-winged Warblers, giving rise to two distinctive and fairly commonly seen hybrids: "Brewster's" and "Lawrence's" warblers. Brewster's have golden wingbars and a white belly (Golden-winged features), but a white throat (a Blue-winged feature). Lawrence's have a black throat (a Golden-winged feature), but white wingbars and a yellow belly (Blue-winged features) . source -allaboutbirds-org

From the archives, Blue-winged warbler, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 8, 2017. Vermivora cyanoptera Blue-winged Warblers do not visit feeders and may only stop off in your yard during migration, but you can still provide habitat for them in your yard by landscaping with native trees and shrubs. Creating a bird-friendly backyard can provide excellent stopover habitat to support warblers as they migrate to and from the breeding grounds. source, all bout birds org

Rondeau Provincial Park, Aug 12, 2022. An uncommon visitor to our yard and water feature. Vermivora cyanoptera Like many warblers, finding this bird is easier during the early part of the breeding season when they are singing their hearts out. The Blue-winged Warbler's distinctive, raspy bee-buzz is the key.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Aug 25, 2021. Worked the hedge for food but didn't come down to the water. Vermivora cyanoptera Blue-winged Warblers have expanded northward as landscapes changed to shrubbier habitats. This northward expansion increased contact and hybridization with Golden-winged Warblers. This hybridization and competition contributes to Golden-winged population declines. source- Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 18, 2020. Always fun to find one of these. Vermivora cyanoptera The oldest recorded Blue-winged Warbler was a male, and at least 9 years old when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in New Jersey.

Blue-winged warbler hybrid "Brewster's Warbler", Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 10, 2019. This makes the full set for the year, golden-winged, blue-winged, Lawrence's and Brewster's something I haven't done before. Vermivora cyanoptera Hybrids tend to develop into one of two distinctive plumages, which early naturalists at first thought were separate species: "Brewster's Warbler” (which looks like a Blue-winged Warbler with a white chest), and "Lawrence's Warbler" (which looks like an all-yellow Golden-winged Warbler). source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/…/Golden-winged_Warb…/overview

Blue-winged warbler, May 8, 2017, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Vermivora cyanoptera Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers look different, sing different songs, occur in somewhat different habitats, and winter in different places. But amazingly, these differences are only skin deep, or rather feather deep—the two species are 99.97% genetically similar, according to research done at the Cornell Lab. source -  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/…/Blue-winged_Warbler/overview

I posted a far away shot of a blue wing in a bush a few days ago. Here is one that was just a little bit closer. Vermivora cyanoptera

Blue winged warbler buried in a bush. Look centre left. He didn't want to come close or to come out of the thicket. Vermivora cyanoptera  Hybridizes extensively with Golden-winged Warbler, giving rise to the distinctly plumaged "Brewster's" and "Lawrence's" warblers.