Subfamily Parulinae

Blue-winged Warbler

Status Rare vagrant. The first record was of a bird identified by Evelyn Richardson on Bon Portage Island on 4 May 1963. Since then there have been three more spring records between 13 and 18 May, and a very early bird on Sable Island on 14 April 1975. Reverse fall migrants have been more frequent: 19 individuals were seen (two collected; photographs) between 25 August and 9 October, most of them on Brier and Seal islands, and most in late August and early September.

Remarks This warbler's plumage is so distinctive that the bird is hard to overlook as an occasional stray among our migrants. The bird nests as near as Massachusetts and has been expanding its range in recent years.

Of interest is a detailed report by Joan R. Kelly of a male "Lawrence's Warbler," the rarer form of hybrid between Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers, at Big Bras d'Or, Victoria County, on 7 July 1980.