Jordan,



My guess would be an Orange-crowned Warbler of what Sibley calls the "Taiga"
form. I've been puzzled by them also.



Gene Hunn

Lake Forest Park

Enhunn323 at comcast.net



From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Jordan Gunn
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 7:44 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Discovery Park Mixed Flock - Unknown warbler



Tweeters,



I was at Discovery Park yesterday 10/18 on a long birding walk and on the
southwest side of the loop trail, just north of where a trail breaks off
heading down to lighthouse by a battered "caution: sink hole" sign placed in
an orange cone I ran into a mixed flock of both Kinglets, both Chickadees,
Bushtits, two Townsend's Warblers (male and female), and this other warbler:
>From the rear a dull yellow was noticeable on the rump, wings, and flanks,
so I thought Golden-crowned Kinglet when I first saw this view, but then I
saw a grayish warbler face/bill with a *pinched* eye look. It looked sort of
like a very dull Nashville or MacGillivray's with the obvious yellow and
gray body, but on this bird the changing from yellow into a more grayish
head was subtle, and it had nothing like the white eye markings of either of
those birds. I first thought it looked a lot like a Tennessee Warbler, but
the closest other bird I thought of was Warbling Vireo. Unfortunately, I
didn't get a photo because I don't carry a camera around right now. I got
good looks but don't have a lot of experience with this species. Apparently
the most likely for confusion is Orange-crowned Warbler or a vireo, both
probably as unlikely right now as Tennessee Warbler.



Jordan Gunn

Seattle, WA

uwjag21 at yahoo.com