Bird Guide

Bay-breasted Warbler vs Prairie Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler (Setophaga castanea)

Bay-breasted Warbler

Setophaga castanea

Tiny12 gForest

Adult males in breeding plumage are primarily greyish above, with two white wing bars, dark streaks on the back, and a creamy neck patch. The face is black, and the crown, throat, and sides are a dark chestnut colour. Breeding females are similar in overall pattern to the males, but are paler and duller. In the nonbreeding season, both sexes gain olive-green feathers on the back, nape, and head. The rufous on the flanks is limited and may even fade away entirely in nonbreeding females. The two white wing bars are present in all plumages.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Doug Hynes · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Catalina Ayala · CC BY 4.0
Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor)

Prairie Warbler

Setophaga discolor

Tiny8 gShrubland

These birds have yellow underparts with dark streaks on the flanks. In males, the back is olive green with chestnut or rufuos streaks. A black stripe runs through the eye, and another black stripe runs from the beak down the throat. This semicircular stripe gives them a distinctive "tired" look. They have two faint wing bars. Their tails have large white areas, and they have dark legs. Coloring is duller in females and immature birds, and streaks are fainter or absent. The subspecies S. d. paludicola is also duller overall. Voice: Prairie warblers have two categories of songs, referred to as Type A and Type B. Type A songs are typically a series of ascending buzzy notes. The B songs are an ascending series of whistled notes that often contain some buzzy notes. Compared to A songs, the B songs are lower in pitch and have fewer, longer notes. The total song length is longer as well in Type B songs.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Peter Wilton · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Josiah Londerée · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Bay-breasted Warbler and Prairie Warbler.