Black-and-white warbler
Mniotilta varia

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4.5 inches
• Small, active, insect-eating bird
• Long thin bill
• Creeps along treetrunks and branches like a nuthatch
• White supercilium, malar streak and central crown stripe
• Black back with white streaks
• Black wings with white wing bars
• Streaked breast and flanks
• Spotted undertail coverts
• Black legs

Male:

• Black crown, cheek, and throat (throat white in Fall and Winter)
• White flanks with black streaks
• Immature male has grayish cheeks and white throat

Female:

• White throat, grayish cheeks
• Buffy flanks with black streaks

Similar species:

The Black-and-white Warbler is perhaps the easiest warbler to identify with its distinctive nuthatch-like feeding strategy and contrasting black and white plumage. The male Blackpoll Warbler is also black and white but lacks the white supercilium and doesn't creep along trunks and branches