The large warbler is proportionally large-headed, heavy-bodied, and short-tailed. Adult male is gleaming yellow and orange-yellow on the head and upper breast, bright yellow on the lower breast, belly, and flanks, bright white on vent and undertail coverts. Back is yellow-green, wings are bluish-gray with no wingbars. The yellow face is unmarked and the eye is dark. Bill is fairly long, very pointed, and all-dark. Adult female resembles male, but yellow on head and breast are less intense. Immatures are like adult female, but dingier tawny yellow on the crown, nape, auriculars and sides of the breast; note plain wings. In flight, the tip of the tail is dark both above and below and all but the innermost tail feathers show extensive white.

Length: 14 (cm) Wingspan: 22 (cm)

Voice:

Clear, high, repetitive phrases, with rising notes in series. Call is a squeaky chip note.

Habitat:

Hardwood swamps, thick wooded streams.

Behavior:

Forages low in dark, woody, thick vegetation, often on downed branches and trunks. Unlike most warblers, nests in cavities.

Feeding:

Forages by gleaning foliage and tree trunks; eats a variety of insects and other small organisms, including snails.