ID Request

Jonathan J. Weber · Oct 2, 2015

This solitary bird was with a pair of Blue-headed Vireos in my yard. The reddish-brown feet, wing bars and white eye ring are good ID markings, but I can't seem to locate it. Comments will be most appreciated. Thank you.

Regards,

Jonathan

Michael Hansen · Oct 2, 2015

Looks like a ruby-crowned kinglet to me.

Mike

Jonathan J. Weber · Oct 2, 2015

Thank you, Michael. No wonder I couldn't find it. I was looking at warblers in my guides. It checks out to be a Ruby-crowned with a commonly hidden top notch.

Regards,

Jonathan

Michael Hansen · Oct 2, 2015

Jonathan J. Weber said:
Thank you, Michael. No wonder I couldn't find it. I was looking at warblers in my guides. It checks out to be a Ruby-crowned with a commonly hidden top notch.

Regards,

Jonathan

Certainly, Jonathan. Glad I could help!

Mike

Paul Guris · Oct 2, 2015

Definitely Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Look at the tiny bill, short stump stature, and eyering vs. spectacles which you'd find on a Blue-headed Vireo.

Jonathan J. Weber · Oct 3, 2015

Here are two more birds I'm not sure about. They showed together in the woods late last evening.

Jonathan

Jonathan J. Weber · Oct 3, 2015

After seeing a few warblers feeding this morning, the second bird appears to be a Myrtle Warbler.

Jonathan

Paul Guris · Oct 3, 2015

Not sure on the first bird. I'm leaning towards Orange-crowned. Do you have any other photos? Also ease up on the sharpening a bit. I think it may be killing the subtlety of color transitions on the bird.

The second bird looks good for Palm. The yellow on the flanks and undertail is wrong for Myrtle.

Jonathan J. Weber · Oct 3, 2015

Paul,

These are from differentl frames of the first bird, straight out of camera, except for cropping in the second photo - no sharpening. I'm using Picasa3.

Jonathan

Paul Guris · Oct 3, 2015

Looks like Orange-crowned. Take a look at the BirdFellow ID photos, especially #11, 12, 17, and 18.

http://www.birdfellow.com/birds/orange-crowned-warbler-oreothlypis-celata#/idPhotos

Arthur Morris · Feb 24, 2016

Jonathan J. Weber said:
After seeing a few warblers feeding this morning, the second bird appears to be a Myrtle Warbler.

Jonathan

The second bird is surely a Palm Warbler. I think

a

Arthur Morris · Feb 24, 2016

And I think that the first one is a Tennessee...

Paul Guris · Feb 25, 2016

Art, I have two major issues with this bird as Tennessee. The first is the obvious white eye arcs. This seems to be a mark that is much more in favor of Orange-crowned. The second is what appears to be strongly yellow undertail coverts. The pictures are the best for assessing this but the undertail does seem to have the brightest yellow on the entire bird. This is consistent with Orange-crowned as compared to Tennessee which would normally have white undertail coverts.

I did a bit of digging and here are two good articles on separation of fall Tennessee and Orange-crowned.

http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/tricky-fall-warblers-orange-crowned-warbler/
http://www.nemesisbird.com/news/photo-study-tennessee-warbler-vs-orange-crowned-warbler/

Arthur Morris · Feb 25, 2016

Paul Guris said:
Art, I have two major issues with this bird as Tennessee. The first is the obvious white eye arcs. This seems to be a mark that is much more in favor of Orange-crowned. The second is what appears to be strongly yellow undertail coverts. The pictures are the best for assessing this but the undertail does seem to have the brightest yellow on the entire bird. This is consistent with Orange-crowned as compared to Tennessee which would normally have white undertail coverts.

I did a bit of digging and here are two good articles on separation of fall Tennessee and Orange-crowned.

http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/tricky-fall-warblers-orange-crowned-warbler/
http://www.nemesisbird.com/news/photo-study-tennessee-warbler-vs-orange-crowned-warbler/

You are right about not a Tennessee. It has been a long time away from the Warblers for me. The bird in question is surely not an Orange-crowned as far as I can tell. They always show a blurry streaking on the breast and flanks. When I said "Tennessee," I should have said Nashville. With its grey-headed look I am pretty sure that that is what the second bird is.

a

Paul Guris · Feb 26, 2016

I'm not real happy with the doubly broken eyering (front and back), extent of gray coming down the face, and overall coloration for Nashville. I don't see the lack of dull streaking as a disqualifier for Orange-crowned. This is a highly variable mark across age, where, subspecies, and just plain individual variation. Here are examples of images of Orange-crowneds where the streaking doesn't appear to be present or is very faint, and these are much higher quality shots than the one we're trying to assess.

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1408/1307095352_7695c29a1b.jpg
http://birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsi...2015/05/Orange-crowned_Warbler_8085334066.jpg
http://www.birdvancouver.com/images/ocwa_lutescens_orestra_aug13.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Orange-crowned_warbler1.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-93Gcqm9mD...CiBXA/s1600/Fall+birding+15+%289+of+11%29.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PCbG9-HAHOM/UmmI7HymqXI/AAAAAAAAPNk/hXukdLx9KvE/s1600/ocwa3.jpg

Arthur Morris · Feb 27, 2016

Paul Guris said:
Looks like Orange-crowned. Take a look at the BirdFellow ID photos, especially #11, 12, 17, and 18.

http://www.birdfellow.com/birds/orange-crowned-warbler-oreothlypis-celata#/idPhotos

None of the #s that you cite show a bird with a contrasting grey head.

Arthur Morris · Feb 27, 2016

Paul Guris said:
I'm not real happy with the doubly broken eyering (front and back), extent of gray coming down the face, and overall coloration for Nashville. I don't see the lack of dull streaking as a disqualifier for Orange-crowned. This is a highly variable mark across age, where, subspecies, and just plain individual variation. Here are examples of images of Orange-crowneds where the streaking doesn't appear to be present or is very faint, and these are much higher quality shots than the one we're trying to assess.

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1408/1307095352_7695c29a1b.jpg
http://birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsi...2015/05/Orange-crowned_Warbler_8085334066.jpg
http://www.birdvancouver.com/images/ocwa_lutescens_orestra_aug13.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Orange-crowned_warbler1.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-93Gcqm9mD...CiBXA/s1600/Fall+birding+15+%289+of+11%29.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PCbG9-HAHOM/UmmI7HymqXI/AAAAAAAAPNk/hXukdLx9KvE/s1600/ocwa3.jpg

Hi Paul,

You might be right. You might be wrong. Some of the sources that you link to are suspect at best

a

Paul Guris · Feb 27, 2016

Arthur Morris said:
Hi Paul,

You might be right. You might be wrong.

I'm never wrong! Wait. Look! There's a penguin in my pond! I'm sure of it! :bg3:

Paul Guris · Feb 27, 2016

I just bounced this off of Dave Irons and Shawneen Finnegan, two top notch birders who live in Oregon who live with Orange-crowneds throughout the year. (Well, not literally.) David's reply was a simple "absolutely an Orange-crowned." I'd be glad to send it out to a few other folks especially if there are specific questions.

I think Orange-crowneds are an under appreciated bird in the U.S. because they're not as snazzy as the other species. They have several races ranging from dull as all get-out to a bright greenish with a bluish gray head to bright greenish yellow all over. The Channel Islands race has a really pointed and curved bill, reminding me of some of the Hawaiian endemics. And once you get into fall plumages, it seems that every gap in between gets filled. They also have a greater ability to overwinter than most other warbler species. They really are cool little birds.

Arthur Morris · Feb 27, 2016

Paul Guris said:
I just bounced this off of Dave Irons and Shawneen Finnegan, two top notch birders who live in Oregon who live with Orange-crowneds throughout the year. (Well, not literally.) David's reply was a simple "absolutely an Orange-crowned." I'd be glad to send it out to a few other folks especially if there are specific questions.

I think Orange-crowneds are an under appreciated bird in the U.S. because they're not as snazzy as the other species. They have several races ranging from dull as all get-out to a bright greenish with a bluish gray head to bright greenish yellow all over. The Channel Islands race has a really pointed and curved bill, reminding me of some of the Hawaiian endemics. And once you get into fall plumages, it seems that every gap in between gets filled. They also have a greater ability to overwinter than most other warbler species. They really are cool little birds.

Thanks. What did Shawneen say? a

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