Blue-winged Warbler

Here is a picture of a hatch year female Blue-winged Warbler and just like many of the birds banded here (~90%) are in their hatching year (meaning they were hatched out this past breeding season and that they are only a few months old). Although not a common capture here, we do expect to catch a few every season here. During the last ten years of banding, a total of 31 have been banded here (therefore a 3.1 per season average). The only year in which we didn't catch one for the season was 2003. The most caught in a season since 1998 was in 2001 when a total of seven were banded.
This species is closely related to Golden-winged Warblers and often interbreeds with them and produces hybrids. The offspring of a pure Blue-wing X Golden-wing cross produces a hybrid called a Brewster's Warbler. When this hybrid breeds back to either of the two species, it forms a backcross offspring. Those offsprings can look like a Brewster's or if the recessive traits are shown, that individual looks more like a Golden-wing and is called Lawrence's Warbler. Of course, it can get quite muddled with all these different genes being passed around! Sadly, it appears that due to all the interbreeding, Golden-wings are slowly phasing themselves out.