Another Warbler (Looks like a "yellow wren") (1 Viewer)

[gthang]

Hey, gang!

I went to Bashakill Marsh Wildlife Management Area today, and after seeing a couple of yellow birds flying around, I was hoping they'd be Scarlet Tanagers (but they weren't...).

But I did get these pictures of a yellow bird that resembles a wren (the resemblance is in the bill).

But again, ID'ing warblers is not my forte, so, I'm asking for help to ID this bird.

I know that my last request turned out to be a Common Yellowthroat, so I'm kind of expecting this name to pop up again here, since they look so similar. But I'm hoping it isn't a Yellowthroat.

So if anyone could point me in the right direction, I greatly appreciate it!

 

[swamp_rattler]

i'm going with common yellowthroat

 

[gthang]

i certainly hope you're joking...

 

[Michael W]

Well, it's hard for me to tell (ha! that rhymes!. You're right, they do look very wren-like at that stage of juvenilence (or whatever). I would also go along with Common Yellowthroat, as the habitat seems right for them and they are common.

I'm very sorry, gthang......really... :-C

 

[swamp_rattler]

no joking here...you mentioned you hoped they would be scarlet tanagers. If you want to see scarlet tanagers, learn their song (like a robin's but burrier) and especially their call (a chip-burr), venture into a nice woodland and they shouldn't be too hard to find. not sure why you are disappointed with common yellowthroats...they are pretty neat birds

 

[prairiemerlin]

This is most definitly a Common Yellowthroat.

 

[gthang]

The reason for my disappointment was because I have already seen it this year... two juvies with no adults around... Believe me, the male is a beauty.

Just curious, I saw this bird last year, for some reason I haven't ID'd it yet, but it looks like a scarlet tanager... is it?

And back to the other bird just a few posts ago: I thought the breast on the subject was darker than the belly, which would certainly eliminate Common Yellowthroat? I thought the subject's bill most resembled a Mourning Warbler's.

 

[Grousemore]

Have you ever considered entering the Monthly Photo Competition?

 

[Thayeri]

The good news, Gthang, is that the first bird in this thread is most definitely Not a Common Yellowthroat.

Yes, it has pink feet, and an olive drab top. But, the distinctive coloration pattern to Common Yellowthroat is that they have a distinctly yellow throat and then a drab breast below. Of particular note according to Peterson's Warblers (Dunn & Garrett), is that any age female Common Yellowthroats of the trichas subspecies (Eastern birds) always have a sharply defined border between the lower edge of the auriculars (cheeks), and the yellow throat. (While Sibley does not go into the same level of detail, the plates for female and juvenile Eastern Common Yellowthroats clearly show both the quite yellow throat, and the high contrast with the auriculars.)

Now look at photos 1, 2 and 4. The throat is almost entirely olive/brown, with just a little yellow, and there is no contrast between the edge of auriculars and the throat. Where the yellow gets going is on the breast -- just the reverse of the plumage of female/juvenile Common Yellowthroats.

I believe the bird to be a first fall female of the amnicola subspecies of Yellow Warbler, which is duller, darker and less yellow than most Yellow Warbler subspecies. Some of the features which these birds have that can be seen in the photos are:

1) larger bills that are light colored on bottom (the subject bird bill would be quite large and light colored for C. Yellowthroat)
2) dull and olive on top
3) a fairly blank looking olive face in which the black eyes are distinctive (with an indistinct pale eye ring), with no particular lower auricular line
4) pinkish legs
5) Yellowish edges to the flight feathers (look closely at the edges of the flight feathers on photo 2, which seals the ID for yellow warbler)

Granted, the southern range for amnicola almost but does not quite touch Northern New York, but there is extensive intergradation near the borders, and Yellow Warblers are quite early migrants as well.

 

[gthang]

Well, I'm not quite in Northern New York, more like Southern.

So, you're positive that this is a Yellow Warbler? If so, then I can breath a sigh of relief, I thought there was something off on the subject bird.

Thanks everyone!

And Grousemore, yes I have entered the Monthly Photo Comps on more than one ocassion.

 

[Thayeri]

I am 100% positive that the bird is not a Common Yellowthroat -- as you can be sure of future birds that don't have particularly yellow throats that contrast with the rest of the face, while having yellow breasts.

Beyond that it was in interesting challenge which provided a nice review of fall female warblers just before the season really gets going. When you look at female warblers with dull olive tops, no wingbars, yellow breasts, pink feet, with darkish blank looking faces -- it is a select group. The number two possibility would be Mourning Warbler, but I see those daily (there are several pairs breeding in the woods behind my house), and I didn't think so. The yellow breast and belly is too light and drab, the possible "hood" too messy and undefined, the eye rings would be distinctly white and not yellow.

As I look again this morning however, I see that the white balance setting on the digital camera as well as the light could be the difference here, if you were using automatic rather than custom at some times of day. With a different color cast, a simple first fall female Oporornis philadelphia might appear the better answer. Of course that is a big "If", and sorting out female fall warblers under various hypothetical light and digital camera setting scenarios is enough to make your head hurt... :eek!:

I would be most interested in reading other theories... :bounce:

 

[dacol]

Thayeri:

I think you forgot one important detail, also from Dunn & Garrett, namely
"All sex and age classes show ... pale edges to the wing coverts and flight feathers". This gives a strongly striated pattern to the upper wings of Yellow Warblers. As can be seen clearly from Gthang's photos the bird in question has very plain brownish-olive color on the upper body, including wing coverts and flight feathers. I think it is a juvenile Common Yellowthroat.

Dalcio

 

[swamp_rattler]

let's not forget about the "jizz" of a bird...the first four photos just look like a yellowthroat...its shape, its face...everything! the next two photos are toughter, but i'm going with yellow warbler.

 

[prairiemerlin]

Yellow Warbler? WHAT?! That does not look like a Yellow Warb to me, sorry, I am 100% sure it is a Common Yellowthroat.

 

[Dave S]

It looks just like the common yellowthroat I saw today:

 

[Motmot]

A juvenile Yellow Warbler has pale lores giving a cleaner face effect. This bird´s lores look fairly dark. Shape is also good for Common Yellowthroat. Another vote for C.Yellowthroat.

 

[Thayeri]

It looks just like the common yellowthroat I saw today:

Nice photo and good to see a bird that has genuine Common Yellowthroat field marks in this thread. An actual yellowish throat, and clearly defined lower auricular line -- wow! As a western subspecies, the standard is not as high for either yellow, or lower auricular line contrast, as it would be for the eastern trichas, but at least it has them.

But hey, subspecies, primary field marks, what do they matter, particularly for easy birds like those female/immature warblers, eh? B

 

[Motmot]

Check this juvenile Common Yellowthroat from Curson, Quinn, Beadle HELM id guide. Imo this is gthang´s bird.

 

[Thayeri]

Check this juvenile Common Yellowthroat from Curson, Quinn, Beadle HELM id guide. Imo this is gthang´s bird.

I note the throat is yellowish, that there is a difference between throat and auricular/crown coloring, that the breast is only slightly more yellow than the throat, and I ask: which of the 14 subspecies of Geothlypis thricas is 54f, and what is the expected geographical range?

 

[Motmot]

It is ssp trichas from eastern N America, from Ontario south to N Texas and southeastern Virginia.