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Posted by Robin Diaz on 12:10:50 08/11/10
In Reply to: Mystery Warbler posted by steve siegel
For fun, I'd like to throw Virginia's Warbler back on the table. The only other contenders are Common Yellowthroat and Nashville Warbler. The first can be eliminated, since the female yellowthroat will have uniform dull olive upperparts. Steve's bird has a definite contrasting yellowish rump and uppertail coverts. Nashville is close in coloration, eye ring, gray upperparts and yellowish rump. However, Steve's bird has coloration features that don't feel right for Nashville.
Though Nashville's color pattern is yellow-white-yellow, the white in the (for lack of a more delicate term) "crotch" area is sometimes very difficult to see in the field. Nashville should have fairly uniform yellow -- including the throat, breast, belly and flanks -- until the leg area. The bird in Steve's video seems to have a whitish throat and no yellow on the flanks. In fact, the yellow is limited to the breast and undertail coverts, characteristic of Virginia's Warbler. The yellow also appears to have a bright "shallow" look that a spring Virginia's would have. It's difficult to see the tail length in the video.
Since Steve filmed this on High Island during spring migration, you can expect the bird to have just arrived and display different demeanor while foraging, especially on the ground. Perhaps tail bobbing is absent due to concentrated foraging? Virginia's Warblers are not great migrants and usually only go to western Mexico, if at all. However, A Virginia's recently wintered near Valdosta, GA and it seemed very "twitchy" like Steve's bird. Dunn and Garrett's Plate #5 is a good comparison of the 2 species.
Just some thoughts. Thanks for sharing, Steve.
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