Re[2]: Black-throated Blue females ?

Kathy Klimkiewicz (Kathy_Klimkiewicz@usgs.gov)
Fri, 2 Oct 1998 16:18:30 -0600 

     The young birds you are seeing now are not in juvenile plumage but 
     rather the first basic (or first winter plumage). They look like adult 
     males except for differences I mentioned in another post.
     
     Cheers,
     Kathy


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: Black-throated Blue females ?
Author:  mdosprey@ARI.Net at NBS-Internet-Gateway
Date:    10/2/98 6:33 AM


Thanks, Bill.
     
Your reference kind of supports my interpretation, that sometimes the young 
males look like females except for the one male plumage characteristic I've been
noticing.  Peterson's "Warblers" shows a young male that looks a lot like the 
adult male while "Warblers of the Americas" shows a bird more like you've 
described below.  The part of the wing I've been seeing white is called the 
alula and makes up the feathers  at the wrist of the wing (see Peterson's 
Warblers).  "Warblers of the Americas" shows a plate of a young male almost like
I've been seeing, except the alula and the primary coverts are brighter white in
these few birds I've seen (four this fall).
     
I guess I've answered this question for my self.   These must be the young 
males.  This is confusing.  Compare the plates of young Black-throated Blue in 
a"Warblers" and "Warblers of the Americas".  They look nothing alike.
     
Good Birding,
     
Darius Ecker (dariuse@abs.net)
     
Columbia, Maryland.
     
----------
From:   tern[SMTP:tern@visuallink.com] 
Sent:   Thursday, October 01, 1998 8:55 PM 
To:     mdosprey@ARI.Net
Subject:        Re: Black-throated Blue females ?
     
Peter Pyle's book "indentification guide to North American Birds"
states "AGE/SEX-    Juv (Jun-Aug) is like HY/SY ,but the plumage is heavily 
washed with brownish; juv female =male, although the distinctive 
sex-specific plumage of male is often visible before fledging.. Basically if 
I understand the jargon correctly he is saying that in many cases the male 
is distinguishable before fledging but not always in which case males are 
heavily washed brownish. I quoted the book excactly because I don't totally 
trust my interpretation.
                                                William Leigh
-----Original Message-----
From: Darius Ecker <dariuse@abs.net>
To: 'MDOsprey Mailing List' <MDOsprey@ARI.Net> 
Date: Thursday, October 01, 1998 5:10 PM 
Subject: Black-throated Blue females ?
     
     
>I've noticed this year what I thought were female Black-throated Blue 
Warblers with a white edge along the lower front edge of the wing.  Birds 
that are brownish olive in color with a white primary patch.  This morning I 
saw 6 BTB females, and two of them had this white edge.  Since the adult male 
has this white edge, I'm wondering if the birds I'm seeing with this white 
edge on the wing are in fact the young males. I looked in "Warblers of the 
Americas" by Curson, Quinn and Beadle and their depiction of a first year 
male doesn't show it.
>
>Does anyone know the answer to this ? 
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Good Birding,
>
>Darius Ecker (dariuse@abs.net)
>
>Columbia, Maryland