Black-and-White Warbler

Mniotilta varia

Superficially similar to Blackpoll and Black-Throated Gray Warblers, the Black-and-White Warbler’s foraging behavior is more like that of a nuthatch. While we see most warblers foraging among the leaves and flowers in the tree canopies, this bird makes its living looking for invertebrate prey hidden in the folds of tree bark.

Rare to uncommon in the western USA, this bird’s expected range is in eastern USA and Canada. Unlike most of its warbler cousins, the Black-and-White Warbler’s genus (Mniotilta) survived the sweeping reclassifications of 2011.

Today, science regards the Black-and-White Warbler as monotypic (i.e. no subspecies).

Until I traveled to Texas, my meetings with this species were in my Southern California yard. These birds are a rarity on the West Coast, and had it not been for the pictures I took, I might have been accused by local birding experts of misidentifying this warbler (I have had that unpleasant experience on more than a few occasions). 

During my first trip to Texas in 2020, the meetings I enjoyed with these birds were many. They were almost commonplace in the early spring migration. South Texas and its Gulf Coast zone hosts a few Black-and-White Warblers through winter, and I found them to be common in many of the places I birded when I returned there early in 2021.

During my visits to Texas, my encounters with this species were in my Southern California yard. I missed meeting these birds when I toured Canada and Alaska in 2005. But when I returned to Canada in 2022, I found them as I traveled on the Al-Can Highway in British Columbia.

Range Map for Black-and-White Warbler
Range Map

42 Photos

Click map markers to reveal further information