Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 08:07:41 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul Subject: Southwestern Yellowthroat??? Comments: To: Greg Gough , Ottavio Janni , Craig Tumer , Jim Stasz , Rob Hilton , Dave & Mary Ann Czaplak/Todd MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I wanted to pass along a few more comments about that Yellowthroat that I saw on Saturday in Kenilworth Park. When I first saw the bird, as it was flying away from me, I was immediately struck by the green tones in the back. It was not as brown as I would have expected (to the point where I even considered Painted Bunting as possible ID before I was able to relocate the bird). As well, when I was able to get on the bird as it skulked through the grasses, I was amazed at yellow it was underneath - bright yellow from throat to vent. The bill also appeared heavy for a yellowthroat, with a pinkish tinge to the base of the lower mandible. At the time, I made mental notes of these features, and then continued on with my birding. I just now referred to Sibley to see how he captures Yellowthroat, and find that these field marks (at least the colors on the upper- and undersides, not the bill) are typical for Southwestern Yellowthroat (that is, the SW subspecies of Common Yellowthroat). Certainly the extensiveness of the yellow below fits for SW yellowthroat. In addition, in the book he shows browner tones on the back for the Eastern Yellowthroat, and greener tones for SW. He also says that the SW form is bright olive. Again, what I saw was consistent with the SW form. Unfortunately it was a 1st winter male, so the other critical field mark - the shape of the mask, is not apparent. My guess is that there is little evidence of vagrancy for SW Yellowthroat, and I realize that such a sighting is pretty incredible, but I bring it to your attention in case anyone has any comments about the subspecies, or is interested in trying to refind the bird. Good birding, Paul Pisano Arlington, VA cheep@erols.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================