Its breeding ranges are located in the interior of deciduous and mixed coniferous forests in eastern North America.

Predominantly insectivorous, the black-throated blue warbler supplements its diet with berries and seeds in winter.

The black-throated blue warbler defends its territory against other birds of the same species for both nesting and winter habitats.

As the black-throated blue warbler requires large, unbroken forest areas for nesting, its numbers are declining.

Some studies have observed significant differences in terms of migratory behavior and plumage color between northern and southern populations within the breeding range.

The female has olive-brown upperparts and light yellow underparts with darker wings and tail, gray crown and brown patches on the cheek.

Juveniles have brown upperparts with a creamy supercilium and brownish spots on the throat, the breast and the belly.

[12] The black-throated blue warbler forages actively in low vegetation, sometimes hovering or catching insects in flight.

While males usually hover among the higher shrub foliage between 3 and 9 m (9.8 and 29.5 ft), females tend to forage at lower strata.

[15] As a songbird, the male black-throated blue warbler attracts a female's attention by singing a soft melody.

Therefore, post-breeding songs are reliable indicators of reproductive success within the particular habitat and convey essential information to the natal and breeding dispersers.

In comparison to the traditional idea of direct assessment of the vegetation structure, the vocal cue is much more efficient and easier to obtain, hence revealing the advantage of social communication in survival and reproduction.

[14][18] Nestling parentage is identified by microsatellites in a study plot at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire.

[14] Males engage in mate guarding during the period females are most vulnerable to successful extra pair copulations.

[20] A possible theory why extra-pair fertilization occurs is that female organisms select males with overall high heterozygosity or dissimilar genetics from themselves.

A potential explanation of this asymmetry is the difference in female preference between the northern and southern black-throated blue warblers.

Therefore, female choice of male songs is likely to play a role in gene flow and reproductive isolation, which may eventually lead to diversification.

[24] It has long been believed that a male black-throated blue warbler achieves reproductive maturation well into its first breeding season.

Because the size of testes in birds is correlated to the ejaculate quality, it is likely that females employ age-dependent choice in favor of older males who can be distinguished by their definitive age-specific plumage.

[8] A report in 2000 discussed the impact of global climate change on the population dynamics of the black-throated blue warbler by an observation from 1986 to 1998.

In particular, the effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was studied in relation to the survival, fecundity and recruitment of this migratory bird.

All the three factors were relatively higher during La Niña years (cold South Pacific Ocean) when the weather was wetter and the food availability was much more abundant.

Long-term global warming can aggravate the ENSO effect, adding to the fluctuation of the black-throated blue warbler population.