His wings are black with orange and white wing bars, and his tail is orange with black streaks. The adult female is paler than the male, olive-brown to orange. Her wings are brown with white wing bars, and her bill is gray. She may have traces of black on her head. The immature is variable, but typically resembles the female.
Males take over a year to reach adult plumage.
It also eats other insects, some small fruits, and nectar. It is an important predator on the nuisance forest tent caterpillar Malacosoma disstria , which it eats in both its larval and pupal forms. Large larvae are seized and smashed against a twig to break them open and avoid the setae, and pupae are pulled out of their cocoon. In suburban and rural areas I. glabula can be attracted to feeders providing orange halves, grape jelly, or artificial nectar. Reproduction Males arrive on breeding grounds in the spring a few days before females.