Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Bird ID Assistance?
Date: May 30 09:31:53 2012
From: Marc Hoffman - tweeters at dartfrogmedia.com


Hi Jon,

Thanks for the very thorough analysis. Since
there were two individuals both looking alike, I
doubt melanistic (of course, genes being what
they are, it's not out of the question that brood
mates would inherit the same anomaly). The
majority opinion among Tweeters that these are
juvie Yellow-rumped Warblers. It did strike me as
early in the season for this, but the YRWA's have
been around for some time now (a month or two?
not sure of the timing). Cornell
(http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/yellow-rumped_warbler/lifehistory)
lists these nesting facts:

Nest takes about 10 days to build
Incubation Period: 12?13 days
Nestling Period: 10?14 days

So it does seem possible these were bred this year.

Marc Hoffman


At 04:58 AM 5/30/2012, you wrote:
>Hi Marc,
>
>Very interesting bird. My guess, and it's only
>a guess, is a 2nd year Myrtle (Eastern race)
>female Yellow-rumped Warbler that for whatever
>reason never got out if it's first fall
>plumage. It's too early for a newly fledged
>bird this year. The white throat is normal on
>the Myrtle race, though they do usually have
>yellow rumps (not visible in the photo). But
>this bird could be melanistic too, lacking the
>color due to some plumage problem. Anyhow, let
>me know if you get a definitive answer from "the authorities!"
>
>Cheers, Jon
>
>Jonathan B. Isacoff
>Chair, Environmental Studies
>Associate Professor, Political Science
>Gonzaga University, Box 52
>Spokane, WA 99258-0052
>isacoff at gonzaga.edu