Identification

Total length about 13 cm; weight (breeding season) about 9 g. Male: dark to medium neutral gray (color terminology from Smithe 1975 Smithe, F. B. (1975). Naturalist's Color Guide. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA. Close ) above and white below, often a slight wash of trogon to buff-yellow on nape, back and/or undersides. Forehead spectrum yellow. Black eye patch and large throat patch separated by white malar region. Greater and median upperwing coverts form a spectrum yellow wing patch. Primaries and feathers of the back and nape may be tipped with yellow. Tail gray. Outer three rectrices have a white patch on the inner web, largest on the outermost feather; patches sometimes displayed by aggressive, territorial males. Female color patterns similar to male but duller. Eye and throat patch pale neutral gray. Warm buff color of forehead and wing patch duller than in males. Wing patch small and often partially separated into two wing bars. Yellow ocher tint on the nape and back and especially on the ventral side usually stronger than on males.

Hybrids with Blue-winged Warblers. Brewster's and Lawrence's hybrids (see Systematics) usually distinguishable. Brewster's generally gray above and white below like Golden-winged Warbler. Brewster's lacks the distinctive Golden-winged head pattern (black auriculars and throat patch), but has a Blue-winged-like thin, black eye-line. Brewster's can have large amounts of yellow on the upper and lower body parts. Female Brewster's paler; chest and abdomen may have more neutral gray than males. Pale buff-yellow may be widely diffused throughout the body plumage.

The Lawrence's Warbler generally looks like a Blue-winged Warbler with the addition of the Golden-winged facial and throat pattern. Lawrence's yellowish olive-green to citrine above and spectrum yellow below. Wing bars nearly or completely separate, pale yellow to white.

Distinctive Golden-winged Warbler head pattern appears to be determined by the homozygous condition of recessive alleles at a single gene site (Parkes 1951 Parkes, K. C. (1951). The genetics of the Golden-winged and Blue-winged warbler complex. Wilson Bulletin 63:5-15. Close ). Other color characteristics of hybrids, i.e., the body coloration, the degree of separation of the wing patch into two wing bars, and the yellow to white color of the wing bars/patch, show a complete range of variation between the two parental phenotypes (Gill 1980). Such variation could result from multiple genes, incomplete dominance, or modifier genes (Parkes 1951 Parkes, K. C. (1951). The genetics of the Golden-winged and Blue-winged warbler complex. Wilson Bulletin 63:5-15. Close ).

Gill (1980) described the plumage attributes of samples from the Blue-winged southwestern limit and the Golden-winged northern limit. Since expansion has been towards the north and east, the Blue-winged population was probably a pure sample. Hybrids, however, have been noted at the northern limit of the Golden-winged range (Confer 1988a), suggesting dispersal of V. cyanoptera genes into allopatric chrysoptera populations. Hybrid index scales have been used to characterize pure parental phenotypes and hybrids (Short 1969, Gill 1980). Short classified a higher proportion of individuals as hybrids (75%) than did Gill (50%). Short applied his scale to both sexes, Gill only to males. Golden-winged females seem to have more yellow throughout the body coloration than do males (Ficken and Ficken 1970, JLC). If true, a sample including females might score a higher percentage as hybrids because of the female tendency towards yellow. Will (1986), however, did not find any difference in score between the sexes when applying Gill's scale to a sample of 60 with about equal numbers of both sexes.

Juveniles are generally indigo tinged with yellow ocher with extensive chamois on legs and underside and with two, separated yellow ocher wing bars. Darker throat and cheek patch obtained by about 18-19 days post-hatching. The first basic plumage with crisp and bright feathers is obtained about 36 days post-hatching.

Generally a distinctive warbler, and unlikely to be confused with other species. The most complicated identification challenge is distinguishing 'pure' Golden-wingeds from the various hybrid forms described above. Pure Golden-winged males have clean white underparts and bold, distinctive head patterns; some pure females can show hints of yellow below, making them even harder to distinguish from potential back-crosses. When seen from below, the head pattern of male Golden-winged is similar to that shown by Black-throated Gray Warbler (Dendroica nigrescens), but note that species' dark-streaked flanks. Confusion with chickadees is also possible given similar head pattern and active foraging style, but the two are easily distinguished with reasonable views.