Black and White Warbler, Fall, Woodlands Cemetery, Philadelphia

A black-and-white warbler, small, black and white striped bird, on a small branch or large twig, with blurry branches in the background

Oct 6th, 2011, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows a black-and-white warbler; this species is a woodpecker-like or nuthatch-like warbler. It crawls up and down trunks of trees and along small and large branches, picking insects out of the bark. This bird was foraging in a hackberry tree in Woodlands cemetery in West Philadelphia.

I'm pretty sure that this is a first fall male black-and-white warbler. Females tend to have a much buffier / more yellowish color on the flanks and around the cheek. Adult birds (second year and later) in the fall show a darker throat and face pattern, with more streaking.