Blackpoll Warbler

How to find it

Expect very low odds, and go when someone has found a bird. Check fruiting fig trees, where it occasionally shows up. Scan mixed flocks of small birds during migration. Look in leafy treetops, but also in ordinary green spaces such as city parks. In fall plumage, check the legs for orange-yellow and look for white wing bars. Its song is very high, so a guide's ears can help.

How to recognise it

Breeding males are mostly black and white, with a bold black cap, white cheeks and white wing bars.

In spring the male looks much like a Black-and-white Warbler. The Blackpoll differs by having a prominent white cheek and a distinct black cap.

In fall plumage it looks very much like a Bay-breasted Warbler. Orange-yellow legs and white wing bars help separate it from similar olive warblers. A Costa Rican birder found one in a city park among pruned trees by its orange legs.

It is tiny. Before its long flight it nearly doubles its weight, to about 12 grams.

What it sounds like

Recording: maureen_c-m, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

On migration the Blackpoll keeps to leafy treetops, where it is hard to see. Birders often know it is there only from its frequent song, but in Costa Rica it sings less, so fruiting trees are the better bet.

During migration and in winter it takes berries as part of its diet. In Costa Rica an adult breeding-plumage male was seen feeding in a fig tree just above eye level.

Migrating Blackpolls join mixed-species flocks, so checking flocks of small birds may turn one up.

Where it lives

On its breeding grounds it prefers evergreen trees in northern boreal forests. On migration it tends to forage in deciduous trees and shrubs instead.

In Costa Rica, spring migration watching centres on the Caribbean slope, between the coast and the Talamanca mountains, and the Blackpoll is among the migrants to watch for there. A trip report also lists it among the birds seen around Cahuita on the Caribbean side.

One was found in an urban park in the Residencial Cedral area, which shows migrants can turn up in ordinary green spaces.

When to see it

Northbound migration through Costa Rica runs from late February to mid-April for most species. The Blackpoll is rare and is usually seen only until late March or early April. Migrant warblers in general arrive between August and December, though that is a general statement and not specific to this species.

Similar birds

In fall plumage it looks very much like the Bay-breasted Warbler, and the two are sometimes lumped together as "baypoll" warblers. A Costa Rican naturalist who went looking for Bay-breasted Warblers found a Blackpoll instead, and its orange-ish legs gave it away. In spring, check the white cheek and distinct black cap against a Black-and-white Warbler.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Reinita Rayada is the name used in Costa Rica. Other Spanish-speaking countries use different names, such as reinita estriada in Ecuador, Panama and Peru, and chipe gorrinegro in Mexico.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks the Blackpoll Warbler as a migrant (M), and it is rare in Costa Rica.

Photography tips

The Blackpoll that one birding writer saw in Costa Rica was at a fruiting fig, and birders went to see it once someone had found it. A fruiting fig with berries within reach, as that male was just above eye level, is the best setup to look for.