Black-and-white Warbler
Mniotilta varia
Black-and-white Warbler · Green-Wood Cemetery · 29 August 2026
A Black-and-white Warbler at Green-Wood at the end of August, one of the earlier warblers to head south in autumn and one of the earlier ones back in spring. It breeds across the deciduous woods of the East and winters from Florida to Peru, and it passes through Brooklyn in numbers at both ends of the summer.
The only warbler that behaves like a nuthatch, working up and down trunks and along the underside of branches probing bark crevices rather than gleaning from leaves. An unusually long hind claw and a slightly decurved bill are the adaptations that let it forage this way. Streaked black and white all over with no yellow anywhere, which rules out almost everything else it could be confused with.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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