Re: Field Identifications
GAIL@UMDD.UMD.EDU
Sat, 10 Oct 98 14:05:22 EDT
Hi Mike --
I saw a warbler this fall with a gray hood and an obvious broken white eyering,
with a very olive -green tone to the back, and a lime-yellow tone to the
underparts, with strong yellow undertail coverts, and the throat seemed
slightly paler gray (not pale yellow). However, I am sure it was a Mourning
Warbler, an immature male, which in fall can show an almost complete gray
hood and may also show fairly obvious broken (albeit thin) eye ring. It looked
very much like other immatures I have seen in the past.
This description isn't much different from your original MacGillivray's post.
What you hadn't said was -- this is a ADULT MALE with a broad obvious broken
eye ring. As I emailed you earlier -- if you had said that it would have
really turned my head! While separation of immatures of the two species is
not a simple issue at all, and the field guides make it a bit too clean-cut,
the adults are pretty distinctive, although as Bob Ringler cautioned, not
always so.
I agree with you that Mourning and Connecticut are not as rare in passage as
many believe. It is a matter of finding good habitat and getting out there
every time you can, and checking out every bird in the depths of the weeds,
even if you have already looked at 210 Yellowthroats! Some areas are just
better than others -- obviously Wakefield Park has what it takes, and so
Layhill Park/Northwest Branch. Rock Creek gets these birds as passage migrants
but there is little good habitat to hold them now.
There is not a serious field birder in this area (or any other) who has not
seen some really good bird that others discounted. If the critter doesn't
stick around, then there is nothing to do but count it on YOUR list and
everyone else be damned. We (and others) have had what we knew were good
records rejected by committees because, in their eyes, we didn't make the
case. It's frustrating but it doesn't stop us submitting records, we just
make sure we try harder to include all the details and get others to see
the bird.
I am sorry about the MacGillivray's dustup -- I have no idea why your report
was ignored, and I wish now I'd gone to look for the bird. But your experience
is by no means unusual. I recall reading in the British journal "Birding
Worls" the tale of the first Cedar Waxwing discovered in the UK. The finder
had been enjoying a large flock of Waxwings (Bohemian Waxwings to us, their
regular species) when he noticed a slightly smaller, yellow-toned bird with
no white in the wing. He looked at it for a while through his car window, then
laid his head on the steering wheel and wearily exclaimed, "Why me, Lord, why
me?" His reaction was because now it was his not inconsiderable responsibility
to get the word out, to ensure that the ID was accurate and to endure the
intense questioning and scrutiny that accompanies the discovery of a real
rarity in Britain. To his credit and joy, the bird stayed for a long time and
all the serious British twitchers saw it. Of course, he could have just
gone home and had a nice cup of tea and kept his mouth shut...
Gail Mackiernan
gail@umdd.umd.edu