- Dendroica striata
Identification
Summer male
- Dark-streaked brown back
- White face
- Black crown
- White underparts with black streaks
- Two white wing bars
Female
- Paler than summer male
- Grey crown and face
Non-breeding
- Green heads
- Dark-streaked green upperparts
- Yellow breast
- Yellow extending to the belly in young birds.
Distribution
Breeds in northern boreal areas from Alaska south to central Canada (absent only from southern Canada and extreme arctic Canada. In the United States found in northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and in the Adirondacks and Catskills in New York.
Winters in South America. Casual to accidental vagrant to Greenland (7 records), Iceland (6 records), Great Britain (35 records), France (2 records), and Galapagos Islands (1 record).
Blackpolls are notable for their fall migration route, when they take off from south-eastern Canada and north-eastern US and fly non-stop over the Atlantic to northern South America. They average 11 grams when they depart and 7 when they arrive.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Mature deciduous trees, coniferous forest, particularly spruce, cypress trees in coastal scrub. Swampy woodland. Also urban parks on migration.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes insects, but berries are taken in the winter.
Breeding
The 4-9 eggs are laid in a cup-shaped nest which is placed in a conifer.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- BF Member observations
- Wikipedia
