Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora pinus), Ramsey Canyon Nature Preserve, Cochise County

This Blue-winged Warbler was found and photographed by Kordeen Kor on 31 August 2019

There are sixteen  previous records of this species for Arizona split between spring and fall. 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.

Note the yellow head and underparts, white undertail coverts, dark eyeline, white wingbars, and grayish-blue wings.

31 August 2019, photo by Kordeen Kor

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