Setophaga striata
Order Passeriformes
Family Parulidae
Other names: Black-poll
♂ Adult male.– Crown black; back gray, streaked with black; wingbars white; cheeks white; under parts white, the sides streaked with black.
♀ Adult female.— Upper parts gray, showing black streaks and a greenish tinge in strong light; wing-bars white; sides streaked with dull black.
Adult in winter and Immature.— Similar to the female, but more yellowish below, and the streaking on the back and under parts very faint.
Nest, in evergreens, about six feet up.
Eggs, white, speckled and blotched at the larger end with brown.
In most of New England and New York the Black-poll Warbler is a very common migrant in the second half of May, and in September and early October. On the mountains of northern New York and New England it is a common summer resident, occurring most commonly in the stunted spruces at the edge of the timber line. The song of the Black-poll is constantly heard from the migrants in May; it is a high thin tsit tsit tsit tsit tsit, of a penetrating quality, delivered with a crescendo and diminuendo; the last notes are by some birds run rapidly together with almost a sputtering effect. The alarm-note is a strong chip.
The call-note is a rather rough lisp; it is constantly heard from the trees in autumn, and is the sound heard most frequently at night as the birds migrate southward.
The male Black-poll Warbler may be told from the Black and White Warbler by its plain black cap, and by its very different manner of feeding. The former hops from one small twig to another, while the latter climbs along the large limbs. The female is harder to identify; one must look for the white wing-bars and the dull streaking along the sides. In the fall the young Black-polls and the adults in winter plumage are very abundant and should be looked for and carefully studied. Their upper parts have a greenish tinge when seen in strong light; they are yellowish below and have white wing-bars. They have a way of twitching their tails, but it is a slight nervous action, different from the deliberate sweep of the Yellow Red-poll [Palm Warbler].
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)