Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora pinus), Yuma, Yuma County

This Blue-winged Warbler was found and photographed by Suzanne Detwiler on 06 June 2016

There are only fourteen previous records of this species for Arizona, if accepted this would be the first for Yuma County. Blue-winged Warbler and Golden-winged Warbler form a pair of closely related species that hybridize and compete with each other. Historically Golden-winged has been the more westerly and northerly of the pair. Not surprisingly there are many more records of Golden-winged Warbler in Arizona than of Blue-winged. However, Blue-winged has been aggressively expanding westward and northward into the Golden-winged Warbler's traditional range and is displacing it. It will be interesting to see if this results in an increase in Blue-winged Warbler records in Arizona.

Yellow underparts, green back and nape, and blue wings with white wing bars. Though not visible here, the black eye line was also seen.

06 June 2016, photo by Suzanne Detwiler

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