Hi Tweets,
I was at Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary in Everett on Wednesday at Noon, watching Yellow Warblers in the trees around the clearing at the main pond. I ended up getting a very clear but very brief look at a warbler I've never seen before. It had black & white stripes through its face, and what I noted most distinctly (and out loud to myself, lol) was that the bird appeared to be completely black and white all over!
Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me, only my binocs, so I didn't get to even *try* to take a picture of the bird. It moved on quickly as warblers do, so I didn't have time to note much in the way of specific features other than the face stripes and overall black and whiteness of the bird.
I've researched through various identification resources and believe that I saw either a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER or (much less likely) a Black and White Warbler (not usually found here). I do not recall seeing a black throat on the bird, but females and 1st year males apparently don't have the dark throat. I thought my bird had more wing barring than I see on the BTGW, but my view was so brief I might not be remembering it quite correctly. Also, the blackness of the black was nowhere near as bold as some images I've seen of the BAWW, more muted, lending to BTGW as well. I did not note yellow on the face, but "Yellow-rumped Warbler" popped into my head so maybe I did catch a glimpse of yellow and that's what triggered the thought. I did think the face striping was more similar to the BAWW, but that might be faulty memory. I tried to note the bill size and shape before the bird flew away, but I've looked at too many bird images now, clouding my visual memory. In the first instance when I saw the bird, "Nuthatch" popped into my head and the BAWW has a bill more like a Nuthatch. But most likely what I saw was the BTGW.
Anyway, it was quite a surprising sighting for me. I wasn't even aware that we find BTGW in our area, leaving me feeling like quite the novice birder for being unaware!
Good birding,
Christy in Kenmorechristyrj at hotmail