Family: Parulidae, Wood Warblers view all from this family

Description ADULT MALE Has olive-green back, wings, and tail. Has a blue-gray hood (head and neck), lower margin of which is defined by black, scaled-looking bib. Lores are often darkish. Note virtual absence of pale eyering (cf. Connecticut). Underparts are otherwise bright yellow, with olive wash on flanks, and legs are pinkish. ADULT FEMALE Similar, but hood is uniformly pale gray (without black bib and lores). IMMATURE Recalls adult female, but has mostly olive-gray head and neck, with indistinct pale eyering, yellowish throat, and darker, incomplete breast band (corresponding to lower margin of adult's hood).

Dimensions Length: 5 1/2" (14 cm)

Habitat Fairly common summer visitor (mainly Jun-Aug) to scrub thickets and dense, secondary woodland. Winters in Central and South America.

Observation Tips Presence easiest to detect by sound. Patient observation is needed to obtain good, prolonged views.

Range Western Canada, California, Texas, Eastern Canada, Southeast, Great Lakes, New England, Mid-Atlantic, Florida, Plains

Voice Song is a rich chrr-chrr-chrr-chrr chu'chu; call is a thin tchit.

Discussion Shy and rather secretive, plump-bodied wood-warbler that usually feeds on, or near, the ground. Sexes are separable.