Black-throated Green Warbler

Look for

A yellow face + olive-green back + black throat bib on males. Females and young have less black (more of a pale throat wash). Two white wing bars and white tail-flashes.

Size: ~5" — small warbler.

Listen for

• Song: a buzzy, lazy "zoo-zee-zoo-zoo-zee" (or "trees-trees-murmuring-trees"). Unhurried and distinctive — one of the easiest warbler songs to learn.

Where in Memphis

Migration only — peaks mid-May and mid-to-late September. Canopy forager in:

• Overton Park Old Forest
• Meeman-Shelby Forest
• Wolf River
• Shelby Farms wooded edges

Behavior

• Mid-to-upper canopy forager.
• Slow-moving for a warbler — easier to find than Redstarts or Magnolias.
• Sings constantly during migration.

Story

The easy warbler song

"Zoo-zee-zoo-zoo-zee" is the classic mnemonic. If you're learning warbler songs in Memphis, this is the first one most birders nail. The song is slow, buzzy, consistent — and given from a visible perch.

Ancient forest specialist

They breed in mature conifer forests (hemlock, spruce) across the northern U.S. and Canada — areas threatened by hemlock woolly adelgid blight. A bird whose future depends on northern forest health.

The cerulean cousin

Their sibling species, the Black-throated Blue Warbler, occasionally appears in Memphis migration too — same genus, wildly different plumage.

Fun facts

• They winter in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
• Their song has a "buzz" that's the same pitch all the way through — unusual for warblers.
• Their scientific name virens means "greening" in Latin.
• Oldest known wild BTGW: 8+ years.