The Black-and-white Warbler looks like it flew straight out of an old engraving — a small bird streaked crisply in black and white from bill to tail, with no other color at all. But its most distinctive feature is behavior, not plumage: it creeps along trunks and large branches like a nuthatch or creeper, working headfirst up and down the bark to pry insects from crevices. No other warbler forages this way, which makes the species easy to name even at a distance.
Its song is a high, thin, squeaky "wee-see, wee-see, wee-see," often likened to a tiny, dry wheel turning. Black-and-white Warblers breed in deciduous and mixed forests across Michigan, arriving relatively early in the warbler wave in late April and May and nesting on the ground at the base of a tree or stump. Because it hunts on bark rather than among the leaves, it is one of the more reliably visible warblers of the spring woods.
Gleans insects, caterpillars, and spiders from tree bark, creeping over trunks and limbs and probing crevices with a slightly downcurved bill. This bark-foraging niche lets it find prey — including overwintering insect eggs and larvae — that leaf-gleaning warblers miss, and supports its early arrival.
The Black-and-white Warbler is specialized for foraging on bark, creeping along trunks and branches to extract insects from crevices. Its longer hind claw and habits set it apart from every other North American warbler.
A very high, thin, squeaky repetition often written as "wee-see, wee-see, wee-see," resembling a small squeaky wheel. The high pitch can make it hard to hear for some people.
On the ground, typically at the base of a tree, stump, or rock in deciduous or mixed forest, where the female builds a cup nest hidden among leaf litter and roots.
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