Description

There is very little seasonal change in plumages for this species and distinguishing features include grey upperparts and white underparts, a yellow to yellowish olive forecrown and forehead, dark auriculars and throat that are black in males and grey in females and a yellow patch on the wing coverts.

The habitat preferences of the Golden-winged Warbler significantly overlap with that of the Blue-winged Warbler. The Golden-winged Warbler prefers habitats that are in the early stages of successional growth, such as shrubby fields and marshes and bogs that have a forest edge.

There are two types of song for the Golden-winged Warbler. The first is typically sung at dawn and is represented by "zeee bee bee bee" and the second is sung during courtship and nest building. Examples include "tzip" for courtship and "zeee" for when young leave the nest.

Blue-winged Warbler and Golden-winged Warbler hybrids and the male Black-throated Gray Warbler.

The foraging behaviour of the Golden-winged Warbler is similar to that of the Blue-winged Warbler in that they are both quite acrobatic in their food catching method as they probe curled leaves for tortricid moths and their larvae.
There have been local declines of Golden-winged Warblers due to advancing forest succession, reforestation and invasive range expansion of the Blue-winged Warbler. The Golden-winged Warbler is generally not a social species, except for its interactions with the Blue-winged Warbler, where hybridization produces fertile offspring.

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