Black-and-white Warbler

The Black-and-white Warbler is exactly that — a small warbler streaked black and white from crown to tail, head stripes included. Breeding males have a black throat and cheek; females and immatures are cleaner white below. Its plumage and its habit of creeping along trunks and limbs make it look at a glance like a small nuthatch, and an unusually long hind claw helps it grip bark — it is the only warbler that forages this way.

It works methodically over bark and large limbs, gleaning insects and spiders from crevices the way a creeper or nuthatch does, which lets it find food earlier in spring than the canopy warblers. It nests on the ground, tucking a cup against the base of a tree or among roots, where the female incubates four or five eggs. One of the earliest wood-warblers back each spring, it announces itself with a thin, squeaky "wee-see, wee-see".

The Black-and-white Warbler breeds commonly in Maine's mixed and deciduous woods and is among the first warblers back each spring, which makes it one of the more reachable members of a difficult family. Because it forages on trunks rather than high in the canopy, it often works at eye level — follow a bird as it spirals a limb and shoot when it pauses on a clean stretch of bark. The high-contrast plumage blows out in hard light, so soft, even light holds both the black and the white.