I'm making a correction of 2 Yellow Warblers that I reported last week
at Mayfield Lake. It's my personal opinion and thoughts, that the
warblers were misidentified, and should be Orange Crowned Warblers.
Here are my three reasons why.
1. The Orange Crowned Warbler and female Yellow Warbler are very
similar. The warblers we had were first seen in direct sunlight, giving
it a overall bright yellow look. Then it flew further back into the
shaded area. I feel we identified the birds by this alone.
2. The undertail coverts were observed to be yellow, not the tail spots.
The tail spots were not properly observed and noted.
3. I noted fine streaking in the breast. According the Peterson's Guide
to Warblers, the streaks should be reddish. I saw no red or even a trace
of red. Orange Crowned Warlbers have fine streaking as well.
I felt that I needed to make this correction, since Yellow Warblers have
not arrived yet, and that no records were based upon my slight
oversight.


Dave Hayden
Lakewood WA
dtvhm at nwrain.com