In Britain we admire warblers for their musical abilities rather than their physical appearance. The sedge warbler, for instance, is an inventive songster and a clever mimic, but its plumage is medium-brown streaked with black and grey, with a silvery, sometimes yellowish stripe above the eye.
British warblers are adapted to fairly monochrome habitats: wood, sedge, reed, marsh, willow. North American warblers, on the other hand, are often beautifully coloured, like the Blackburnian warbler, with its intricate pattern of black-and-white wing-streaks setting off the gorgeous, flame-coloured face and throat, or the tiny Wilson’s warbler, whose yellow face and breast provide the perfect setting for a startling, coal-black eye and an elegant black cap.
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