Visual Identification
Although the songs of Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers are distinctive, our protocol for the Hybrid Index depends on visual confirmation of each species and their hybrids. Please bring a field guide with you in the field if you need help contrasting golden-wings, blue-wings, and their hybrids.

Click here for brief notes on visual identification, images of the birds, and sound samples of their songs.

Song Types
Males of Golden-winged and Blue-winged warblers and their hybrids regularly use a Type I (sometimes called Type A or the primary song) and a Type II song. The Type I song is commonly described in field guides and presented on commercial tapes. These are phonetically represented as zee bee bee bee for golden-wings and beee buzzzz for blue-wings. This song is given most frequently when males first arrive on a breeding territory to attract mates and define a territory. Type II songs are similar for both species and can be described as a sibilant, rapid stutter followed by a lower buzzy note. This song is often associated with male-to-male aggression. It is also commonly given in the 20 minutes before dawn, after the female starts to incubate.

Type I songs are distinctly different between golden-wings and blue-wings, however, Type II songs cannot be used to distinguish between the two species. Both respond strongly to each other's Type II song. Hybrids cannot be distinguished from pure phenotypes by song. A hybrid male will usually sing the Type I song of one or the other species. Hybrid Type II calls are virtually identical to their parents' calls.