Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
- Playback
- Not specified
Observation details
The bird was seen only briefly and photographed by another birder. Views through binoculars of a warbler shape, size and coloration similar to the more commonly seen MacGillivray's. The bird appeared yellow underneath with a clearly defined gray upper breast and head. No eye arcs, rings or eye color was noted. The bill was medium length for a warbler, and did not appear to have a distinct color (i.e. not black, silver, bicolored). Upper parts appeared olive in color with no apparent wingbar. Song was narrowed down to MacGillivray's or Mourning although personal analysis proved inconclusive. However, I contacted the author of a research paper that had expertise in both species song and the regiolects of those songs. They kindly wrote the following analysis (as part of their research, syllables were assigned alphanumeric codes which they refer to in this text): The Mourning Warbler has four distinct song types or regiolects that stretch over long distances across the breeding range: Western (central Ontario and western Great Lakes to British Columbia), Eastern (central Ontario and western Great Lakes to the Appalachian Mountains and maritime Provinces), Nova Scotia (restricted to the Province of Nova Scotia, primarily the Cape Breton area), Newfoundland (province of Newfoundland and southeastern Labrador). Since we know the geographic boundaries of these song types on the breeding grounds, we can use them to identify the songs of migrants and their migratory pathways during the spring and early summer. This male from southern Nevada is singing the MO6 song type of the western regiolect and is likely headed to one of the Prairie Provinces to breed. The introductory phrase contains the MO6 syllable type and the concluding phrase has the MO79 syllable type, both of which are only found in the Western regiolect. The regiolects, song types and syllables are described in further detail in Pitocchelli (2011) – see citation below. PITOCCHELLI, J. 2011. Macrogeographic variation in the song of the Mourning Warbler (Oporornis philadelphia). Canadian Jl. Zoology 89: 1027-1040.
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 16.93 MB