Acadia National Park

Description  ADULT MALE Has olive-green back, wings, and tail. Has a blue-gray hood (head and neck), lower margin of which is defined by black, scaled-looking bib. Lores are often darkish. Note virtual absence of pale eyering (cf. Connecticut). Underparts are otherwise bright yellow, with olive wash on flanks, and legs are pinkish. ADULT FEMALE Similar, but hood is uniformly pale gray (without black bib and lores). IMMATURE Recalls adult female, but has mostly olive-gray head and neck, with indistinct pale eyering, yellowish throat, and darker, incomplete breast band (corresponding to lower margin of adult's hood).

Dimensions  Length: 5 1/2" (14 cm)

Habitat  Fairly common summer visitor (mainly Jun-Aug) to scrub thickets and dense, secondary woodland. Winters in Central and South America.

Observation Tips  Presence easiest to detect by sound. Patient observation is needed to obtain good, prolonged views.

Range  Western Canada, California, Texas, Eastern Canada, Southeast, Great Lakes, New England, Mid-Atlantic, Florida, Plains

Voice  Song is a rich chrr-chrr-chrr-chrr chu'chu; call is a thin tchit.

Discussion  Shy and rather secretive, plump-bodied wood-warbler that usually feeds on, or near, the ground. Sexes are separable.