A flashy yellow, black, white, and gray warbler of the Northeastern U.S. Adult male has a mostly gray body and wings, a bright yellow patch on the wing coverts, white undertail coverts, yellow crown, black throat and auriculars, and white supercilium and moustachial stripe. Adult female looks like a washed-out version of the male, with a more greenish crown, gray replacing black in the face pattern, and a dingy white supercilium and moustachial stripe. Hybridizes commonly with Blue-winged Warbler, resulting in a broad range of intergrades that may most resemble either of the parent species. The predominantly yellow and rarer "Lawrence's Warbler" looks like a Blue-winged, but has the black throat and mask through the eye like a Golden-winged. The mostly white and grayish and comparatively common "Brewster's Warbler" lacks the black throat and shows limited black on the lores and through the eye, two yellow wingbars, and some yellow wash below.

Length: 12 (cm) Wingspan: 19 (cm)

Voice:

High, thin, buzzy four-note song: bee bzz bzz bzz. Short, hard single call note and buzzy flight calls.

Habitat:

Early successional habitats; bogs, edges, brushy, second-growth woodlands. In South America, winters in tropical forest canopy.

Behavior:

Nest is an open cup of grasses with base of dead leaves, placed on or near ground.

Feeding:

Forages high in canopy, gleaning foliage for insects.