Black-and-white Warbler creeping along a branch
Mniotilta varia
Black-and-white Warbler · Green-Wood Cemetery · 29 August 2026
A Black-and-white Warbler side-on at Green-Wood at the end of August, body low and parallel to the bark, weight over the feet. It breeds across the deciduous woods of the East and winters from Florida to Peru, and it is one of the earlier warblers to move in autumn.
The stance is exactly what a nuthatch or treecreeper uses, and a genuine oddity within the warblers, which mostly work leaves rather than trunks. The hind claw is longer than any other warbler's for the job. Sex is hard to call from this angle: males in autumn have a solidly black throat and cheek that fades on females and immatures to white or grey-streaked, and the light here doesn't settle it either way.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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