[2] Although Brissn coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

It has a yellow line in front of its eye in the direction of the beak, but the most striking facial feature is the white eyerings or "spectacles".

Mode I, used mostly during the day, when unpaired either alone or near a female during early nesting, involves stereotyped songs sung slowly and regularly.

Most of the phrases used were common to both modes, a feature unique among parulids, which ordinarily have an individual's repertoire separated into two distinct parts.

[11] In winter, the Canada warbler's range extends from Guyana to northwestern Bolivia around the northern and western side of the Andean crest.

[12] In northern Minnesota, a study found that Canada warblers inhabited the shrub-forest edge, rather than mature forests or open fields with shrub.

[13] In New England, the Canada warbler was found to be "disturbance specialists" moving into patches of forests recovering from wind throw or timber removal.

[12] At least 60–65% of the population nests in boreal forests in Canada, the Great Lakes region of the United States, New England and through the Appalachians.

The nests are made up of root masses, hummocks, stumps, stream banks, mossy logs, and sometimes leaf litter and grass clumps.

[20] The Canada warbler eats insects for the most part, including beetles, mosquitoes, flies, moths, and smooth caterpillars such as cankerworms, supplemented by spiders, snails, worms, and, at least seasonally, fruit.

[12][11] It employs several foraging tactics, such as flushing insects from foliage and catching them on the wing (which it does more frequently than other warblers),[12] and searching upon the ground among fallen leaves.

[12] In the tropics of South America, it forages in mixed flocks with other birds, usually 3–30 feet above ground in denser foliage.

[23] Threats to the Canada warbler include forest fragmentation; over-browsing of the understory by deer, acid rain, and the spread of the woolly adelgid (a killer of fir and hemlock trees).

[18] John James Audubon illustrates the Canada warbler in Birds of America (published, London 1827–38) as Plate 73 entitled "Bonaparte's Flycatching-Warbler—Muscicapa bonapartii."