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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Setophaga virens
Black-throated Green Warbler

 
Scientific Name: Setophaga virens (Gmelin, 1789)
Scientific Name Synonyms: Dendroica virens
English Name: Black-throated Green Warbler
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Taxonomy Comments: The change from genus name Dendroica to Setophaga was based on:
Chesser, R.T. et.al. 2011. Fifty-second Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Checklist of North American Birds. The Auk 128(3):600-613.
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-BTNW
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Passeriformes Parulidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S3B (Apr 2024)
BC List: Blue
Provincial FRPA list: Y (Jun 2006)  
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: Clutch size is 4-5 (usually 4). Incubation lasts about 12 days, mostly by female. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at 8-10 days.
Global Ecology Comments: Winter: alone or in groups of up to 15, or in mixed flocks (Stiles and Skutch 1989, Rappole and Warner 1980).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
N /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Migrants arrive in Costa Rica early to mid-October, depart by mid-April (Stiles and Skutch 1989). Recorded in South America mostly October-April (Ridgely and Tudor 1989).
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence) 		Forest / Conifer Forest - Mesic (average) / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Conifer Forest - Moist/wet / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Mixed Forest (deciduous/coniferous mix) / Facultative - frequent use
Riparian / Riparian Forest / Facultative - frequent use
Global Habitat Comments: Breeds in coniferous, mixed coniferous-deciduous, and entirely deciduous forests (Parrish 1995, Condor 97:935-943), including forest edge, second growth, hemlock forest, cedar-grown pastures, larch bogs, and swamps. In migration and winter, occurs in various open forest, woodland, scrub, second growth, and thicket habitats (AOU 1983); prefers forest canopy and edges, pasture trees, and semi-open, sometimes in low scrubby second growth (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Nests often in conifers but also in hardwoods, shrubs, and vine tangles, from almost ground level to about 25 m up (usually low) (Harrison 1978).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Eats mainly insects; generally forages high in trees in breeding range. In Jamaica in winter, picks insects off needles of junipers and introduced pines, especially at tips of canopy and side branches, usually when perched but also when hovering (as in summer); also eats fruits obtained in sclerophyll forest (Lack 1976). In Mexico in winter, gleans the tops of the outermost leaves of trees in the canopy and subcanopy, often on terminal tufts and occasionally hovering (Rappole and Warner 1980). In Costa Rica, gleans small insects and spiders from leaves, flycatches (Stiles and Skutch 1989). Foraging behavior is more generalized in Panama than in temperate habitats (Rabenold 1980).
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 13/ / 9
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: BREEDING: northern Alberta and probably east-central British Columbia east across Canada to southern Labrador, south to central Alberta, Great Lakes region, southern Appalachians, and Maryland; also Coastal Plain from southeastern Virginia to South Carolina; recently found breeding in the Ozark region of northwestern Arkansas (P. Rodewald). NON-BREEDING: north to southern Texas, Florida; in Mexico primarily along Atlantic coast from Tamaulipas south, extending onto Yucatan peninsula, into Oaxaca, and less commonly farther north on the Pacific coast. Common throughout Central America, particularly in highland regions. Occasionally found in northern Colombia and northern Venezuela; regular but not common throughout West Indies. Birdlife International (2014) estimates just under 1.5 million square kilometers.
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: May 10, 1996
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Bent, A. C. 1953. Life histories of North American wood warblers. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 203. Washington, D.C.
Blood, D.A., and F. Backhouse. 1998. Rare Warblers of Northeastern British Columbia. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 6pp.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I.McT.-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G. Kaiser, A.C. Stewart, and M.C.E. McNall. 2001. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 4, Passerines: Wood-Warblers through Old World Sparrows. UBC Press, in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv., and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch and Resour. Inventory Branch, and Royal B.C. Mus. 744pp.
Cooper, J.M., et al. 1997. Status of the Black-throated Green Warbler in British Columbia. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. Working Rep. WR-80. 36pp.
Griscom, L., and A. Sprunt, Jr. 1979. The warblers of America. Doubleday and Co., Garden City, New York. 302 pp.
Hagan, J. M., III, and D. W. Johnston, editors. 1992. Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. xiii + 609 pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Harrison, H.H. 1984. Wood warblers' world. Simon and Schuster, New York. 335 pp.
Keast, A., and E.S. Morton. 1980. Migrant birds in the neotropics: ecology, distribution, and conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Lack, D. 1976. Island biology illustrated by the land birds of Jamaica. Studies in Ecology, Vol. 3. Univ. California Press, Berkeley. 445 pp.
Rabenold, K. N. 1980. The black-throated green warbler in Panama: geographic and seasonal comparison of foraging. Pages 297-307 in B80KEA02NAUS.
Rappole, J. H., and D. W. Warner. 1980. Ecological aspects of migrant bird behavior in Veracruz, Mexico. Pages 353-393 in A. Keast and E.S. Morton, editors. Migrant birds in the neotropics: ecology, distribution, and conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp.
Sauer, J.R., and S. Droege. 1992. Geographical patterns in population trends of Neotropical migrants in North America. Pages 26-42 in J.M. Hagan, III, and D.W. Johnston, editors. Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1996. Species Summary: Setophaga virens. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 3, 2026).