Cerulean Warbler

The Cerulean Warbler is small, active, insect eating warble, that is about 4 inches long.  The cerulean warbler has wing bars, and a thin pointed bill.   The adult male is pale blue to blue-gray, the upper parts with black streaks on the back, white underneath with thin black band across breast, black streaks on side.  The female and immature cerulean warbler have white supercilium, the upper parts are not as blue as male more gray, lacks breast band, and the streaking on the sides are reduced.   Males usually arrive on their breeding territories near the middle of May.  They build their nest near the end of a horizontal tree branch anywhere from 15 to 90 feet above the ground.  The small, shallow open cup nest is thought to be built by the female out of bark strips, grasses, spider silk and lichen, and lined with moss and fur.  She lays and incubates 3 to 5 eggs, after hatching both parents feed the young.

The Cerulean Warbler breeding extends from the Mississippi River to the eastern coastal states and from the Gulf Coast states northward to southern Ontario.  Habitat is usually include mature hardwood forest usually in floodplains.