ML507652391
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Immature Female - 1
- Playback
- Not specified
Observation details
Odd-looking bird found by Robb on 11/25/22 (yesterday). Located quickly in the row of 3 Ficus trees and watched off and on for an hour or so, although it had a penchant for remaining well-concealed. It was silent initially, but we heard several bouts of calling later -- a slurred 'chip' that was toward the rich, "husky" end of the spectrum of Yellow Warbler calls (i.e., not like the thinner, sweeter redstart-like 'tsip' that many Yellows give). Audio of the calls is provided here. Visually this was a dull female Yellow Warbler, not especially bright or deep yellow below (more at the pale end) but darker olive above and especially on the crown and sides of the head than most Yellows. The dark on the head set off a broad indistinct pale eyering. The moderately short tail had pale yellow spots, concolorous with the pale yellow undertail coverts. Since the primary extension beyond the tertials is a key character distinguishing Mangrove (and "Golden") warblers from northern migratory Yellow Warblers, we concentrated on trying to assess that feature. But since we were almost always looking up at the bird it was hard to determine how long the primary extension was. From Kimball's brief views he would have called it "moderate" but not especially short. The darkest and dullest Yellow Warblers in the west are the northernmost breeding subspecies (rubiginosa, etc.), which also happen to have the longest primary extension. Robb's photos appear to show primary extension too long for a "Mangrove" type, although the extension may not be long enough for ssp. rubiginosa.
Additional species
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 482.31 KB