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Advice #4: Doing your Homework

Oct 222023

Today I was inspired to create part 4 of my continuing series on How to Become a Better Birder. For the previous posts, click here for part 1, part 2, or part 3.

One of the biggest differences that I see between experienced birders and beginning birders is that beginners seem to go out on a nice birding day without any expectations of what they will see, while those with more experience use that experience to their advantage and essentially know what they are likely to see before even setting foot outside the door. This is an ENORMOUS advantage.

So how in the world can you know what birds are likely to be seen on any given day if you have little experience to start with? I have two pieces of advice for how to start. The first suggestion is to start NOW by keeping records of what birds you…and others…are seeing in your area. I talked about this idea in a previous post, but will expand here by describing my method. I keep a file of what is happening in nature in my area for for every week for every month of the year. Over the years, I have built up a word document that, for example, has a page for October, with sub-headings for ‘first week’, second week’, etc. And I have similar pages for the other months. This past month I noticed that there has been a huge incursion of Golden-crowned Kinglets into our area in the second week of October. So I make a note of that. Similarly, the first Brown Creepers and White-throated Sparrows started appearing and the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have departed. So I make a note of that. And 98% of the warblers that remain are Yellow-rumped Warblers. If you keep an electronic notebook like this for a year, describing the transitions that you see on your outings, when the first week of October arrives next year, you will know exactly what to anticipate simply by referring back to this file. As the years progress, you should add or modify or edit the file with additional observations, and as time passes you will have a detailed account of what to anticipate seeing on any outing. Eventually, you can add things like which plants are flowering, which insects are appearing, and you will have a detailed diary of the year in nature, just like a modern-day Thoreau, aided by your word processor. Voila! I can’t over-state how important it is to have notes like this through the year, and even better, it is fun to write down and keep track of observations and trends through the year.

As an example, here’s a small part of a new file describing events that I noticed in Florida this year. As the years pass, I will expand on these sightings, and I hope that you can imagine dozens of transitions that have been noticed will accumulate to generate a detailed account of the entire birding year.

A second way to anticipate what birds can be seen is to take advantage of eBird. The idea is to look at what other people are seeing recently at any location that you are birding. For example, if you were going to Cape May NJ, from eBird’s home page, click on “Explore”, which will bring you to the following page:

From this page there are multiple ways to find recent sightings. One way is to click on “Explore Hotspots” to get to a map where we can then zoom in on any desired location. Perhaps better yet, we can enter a county into the “Explore Regions” window. If we type “Cape May” in there, we will get a page that looks like this: Now if we click on”complete checklists’, it will show the most recent checklists for Cape May County. Then click on any individual checklists to see what birds are being seen there. In this way we harvest the power of eBird to learn which birds others have been seeing and thereby to anticipate what we might see.

Another way to use eBird is to take advantage of their incredibly useful bar charts. The bar charts do not necessarily show what has been seen recently, but instead shows the longer-term historical pattern for any location. So how do we do that? If we go back to the eBird “Explore” page shown above, simply click on ‘bar charts” on the bottom right side of the page, which will open to the following page, where you can narrow your selection down to state, county, or to a specific hotspot.

After searching for the desired location, you will see all recent reports for that site. As an example, if we look at a portion of the bar chart showing the birds in Orange County, FL (home to Orlando), we see that Eastern Phoebes and Blue-headed Vireos would not be seen in mid-summer, whereas Great Crested Flycatchers and Eastern Kingbirds would be expected in summer, with Great Cresteds being much more common, based on the thickness of the bar. By contrast, White-eyed Vireos are present year-round while species such as Say’s Phoebe would be a rarity at any time of year. This is incredibly valuable information to have if you are unfamiliar with identifying these birds, giving a strong sense of what can be expected during any time of the year.

Now, armed with this information, whether using your own field notes through the year or the combination of the eBird tools (Recent Sightings and Bar Charts), you can refer to your field guide before going out into the field and review the expected birds…refresh your memory banks with their essential field marks, or to listen to their songs. I suspect that you’ll find it that much easier to find and identify the birds that might be around on that day, instead of walking outdoors with a blank slate and no idea of what birds might be around. Using these methods you now will be on your own way to becoming a better and more experienced birder; if not, you risk remaining a beginner forever.

Good Karma

Feb 112023

It looked like the weather was going to be cooperative today, approaching 50 degrees again, with mild winds. On a February day with that weather prediction, I like heading to the inlets to search for birding action. So Jeanine and I ventured out to the south Atlantic City Jetty along Absecon Inlet and very soon after starting out we heard a flock of at least 200 birds that sounded like American Oystercatchers. But Oystercatchers don’t come in flocks that big, do they? In winter? Indeed that’s what they were, getting the walk off to an impressive start.

I count 167 Oystercatchers in just this part of the flock in Jeanine’s photo, so 200 birds is a likely underestimate.

As we left the boardwalk and approached the jetty, there were plenty of loons around, and we spotted a nice group of eighteen Purple Sandpipers, which we don’t see often here, so that was another nice surprise.

There were plenty of loons around today. Here’s a nice close-up of a Red-throated Loon.

We saw more Purple Sandpipers today than we’ve ever seen at this location.

Soon after we started seeing our first Razorbills. They were not as numerous today as on our last outing (see here), but on nearly any scan we could expect to see at least one, so that was great. In fact, today they seemed to be foraging in pairs, unlike last week when they were in larger groups. Let’s face it; it’s always fun to see Razorbills.

Razorbills have been easy to spot, but they can be very active, often only spending a second or two at the surface before another feeding dive.

Our main targets/hopes today were other alcids or some of the rarer gulls, so we were somewhat disappointed that our birder greed was not fulfilled after about two hours or so. As we were sitting there, I cleaned up a bit, getting rid of a bunch of fishing line that had accumulated on the jetty. Who knows, maybe good karma would bring us good birds in return, right? Soon afterward we essentially gave up and started heading back to our favorite local Indian restaurant. As we approached the base of the jetty, we stopped to take a photo of the scene.

You can see that it’s a nice place to do a jetty sit, with reliable footing and hardly anybody else in sight (unlike other local jetty hangouts).

Immediately after taking that photo, I turned toward the water and spotted an alcid ~50 yards away that appeared to have a black line on a white cheek, unlike what I had seen in any Razorbills, but it was a very quick look as it was diving. Darn! I’d love to get another look at that bird. As alcids are wont to do, it remained under the surface for what seemed like an eternity, but it re-surfaced 100-150 yds away, where we could see that it had a bill that was more pointed than a Razorbill, but once again it was a quick (and this time distant) view. With two clues that it was not a Razorbill, we raced back out to the tip of the jetty. Finally we were able to get good scope views, conferred with Big Sibley (yes, we actually brought the field guide into the field), and found out then that we were looking at an adult non-breeding Common Murre!! The key identification features are a pointed bill and a black line across a white cheek that the other alcids lack. Common Murres are not common at all in NJ, especially from land. The last sighting in Atlantic County was in 2000 (and before that, in 1959!), and the last one documented with a photograph in NJ was in 2014. I celebrated with a brief Common Murre dance, but now we needed photos. By this time the bird was too far out for Jeanine to get decent photos with her 300 mm lens/camera, and my SLR camera battery was dead (of course). In desperation, I tried to get documentation shots with hand-held digiscoping, and fortunately that was successful as the bird drifted out beyond the inlet mouth, where it remained resting on the surface in that area for at least another 15 minutes until thoughts of chicken curry returned and we left for lunch. In the photos below we can see the black line across a white cheek, and the sharply pointed bill.
A heavily-cropped Monet-esque view of the Common Murre.
Common Murre flexing its wings.
The loon-like dagger-ish bill of the Murre easily distinguished it from the Razorbill’s wider and blunter bill.

So did we just get lucky once again, or was it good karma in return for our small clean-up effort? You be the judge. Try doing a small clean-up the next time you’re outdoors and see if it works for you too.

Razorbill-palooza

Jan 302023

This morning Jeanine and I decided to do a jetty sit in Atlantic City, hoping to spot a few alcids on a warm January day. The conditions were beyond ideal, with temperatures reaching a high of 60 degrees, with the lightest of breezes and calm waters that easily allowed us to spot any birds floating on the surface. As soon as we reached the Absecon Inlet wall and started walking the half-mile or so to the tip of the inlet, we spotted a Razorbill halfway across the inlet. Nice. And perhaps a good omen.

Soon afterward we had a nice comparative view of adult and immature Bonaparte’s Gulls patrolling the shoreline. I don’t remember often seeing immature Bonies, so that was a nice treat.

As we approached the jetty at the tip of the inlet, things started getting more interesting, with additional Razorbill sightings. Great. Then we spotted another. Razorbills have a tendency to take long dives and re-surface a surprising distance away. So was that the same bird? Nope. Now we had two at the surface at the same time. NICE! So now we spotted at least four separate Razorbills before even reaching the jetty at the entry of the inlet. When we did finally reach the tip of the jetty, things got ridiculous, with Razorbills seemingly all around us. We were excited to see a pod of four Razors together at the same time. Then there were five! Later on there were seven. Eventually, we had a group of eleven (!!!) Razorbills grouped together at the surface at the same time. Yikes!!

In addition to seeing abnormally high numbers of Razorbills (for us), the proximity of the sightings was nothing short of spectacular. These were not distant birds requiring a scope to see a far-off black-and-white barely-discernible dot on the water’s surface. They were close. I mean CLOSE. We’re talking naked-eye birding….not even bins required, with the birds often feeding right at the base of the jetty. I had left my camera in the car (of course), but Jeanine missed some photos because she couldn’t get the birds in full view with a 300 mm lens unless she zoomed out. We were able to see that the Razors were chasing small fish that were schooling near the rocks. And to top it off, they were occasionally vocalizing, with a sound that was somewhere between a croak and a burp. We never saw them surface with anything in their bill, but later read that they swallow their prey below the surface. We became familiar with their diving technique, in which they almost start ‘flying’ underwater, with their wings in a ‘flight’ position, unlike the loons.

What a great day. For us, Razorbills tend to be one of those species where if you see one or two birds, you count it as a highlight. Today we couldn’t scan for more than a minute without seeing one. Or four. Or eleven. What a treat. We were searching for other alcids, primarily Dovekies and Thick-billed Murres, but came up empty on those species. Maybe on our next trip.

Owl on the Prowl

Apr 032021

I rarely post anything about owls. Owls have a mystique that makes normal people abnormal and turns photographers obsessive and aggressive. I have seen the worst behavior by birders and photographers when owls are involved, so if I get lucky enough to see one, it typically will not be reported. This is especially true for roosting sites or nest locations which will remain forever a secret between me and the owl.

An exception to my owl rule occurred yesterday, when Jeanine and I (and multiple other visitors) enjoyed watching a Short-eared Owl hunting at Brig. I believe / hope that this is a safe exception to mention here because the owl was hunting during mid-day over the impoundments, where it presumably is safe from intrusion by the photographers who are supposed to remain on the road. In contrast to the nocturnally-active owls that typically just sit like a statue during the day, it was a pleasure to watch this bird’s hunting behavior in mid-day. We didn’t see it actually catch anything, but it was trying its darndest in the stiff wind. There weren’t many other birds active due to that wind, but sometimes one bird can turn a drab day into a WOW day. And that’s exactly what this bird did for us.

Little Gulls = Big Find

Mar 252021

At around this time of year Jeanine and I like heading to Cape May, to sit on the bayside dunes at Miami Rd. and sort through the gull-tern-shorebird flock. Well, today the tides were perfect, and the temperature peaked in the mid-60’s with little wind, making the attempt a pleasure (unlike our ill-fated attempt last week with freezing winds in our faces). The main targets are a pair of mostly European species, Black-headed Gull and Little Gull. We have tended to do well with Black-headed Gull over the years, but have only seen Little Gull once in our birding lives, desperately chasing one that had been seen up at Spruce Run Reservoir four years ago.

Today was different. As we walked the shoreline, before we even reached our traditional vantage point ~250 yds. from the parking area, we spotted a dark hooded gull with otherwise very light plumage, a large red bill, and red legs: Black-headed Gull! Nearby were a pair of smaller Bonaparte’s Gulls (or so we thought) for a nice size comparison. It was a great start and time for a few documentation photos.

Our initial view of the Black-headed Gull, with a smaller gull (we incorrectly assumed it was a Bonaparte’s Gull at the time) behind it. The light wingtips and relatively bright legs of the smaller bird should have been our clues to look closer. Photo by Jeanine Apgar.

Here’s a better view of the Black-headed Gull, with its dark chocolate hood, large red bill, and bright red legs.

Black-headed Gull in flight shows a dark triangular patch on the underside of its wings that distinguishes it from the more numerous Bonaparte’s Gulls.

Or at least we thought the nearby smaller gulls were Bonaparte’s. After we tried passing these birds to get to the main flock out on the sandbar, they flushed and we noticed that the two smaller birds had dark underwings with white borders. LITTLE GULLS!! TWO LITTLE GULLS!! Or could we be mistaken? Cameras clicked away as the birds circled, landed briefly, but then rapidly flew off northward into the fog, never to be seen again.

Little Gull in flight, showing the distinctive dark underwings with a white trailing border. Perhaps you can see a slight pinkish hue to its belly.

Or we thought we wouldn’t see them again. We sat near the main flock, sorting through the remaining birds but unable to spot any on the sandbar. We also re-examined our photos, compared them with the field guides, and indeed, the photos revealed that they were Little Gulls; we weren’t mistaken. We texted the sighting and were soon joined by Tom Johnson, who pointed out that a Little Gull was standing on the sandflat a short distance in front of us, which we hadn’t noticed. They look so similar to Bonaparte’s Gulls (and we had no prior experience with seeing them perched), that we weren’t even sure what field marks to use. Leg color? Size? Facial pattern? Each of those marks seemed inadequate. Tom pointed out that the Little Gull has whiter upper wingtips, and that the bird in front of us was showing part of its black underwing. (see the photo below). I think this is the best field mark for us to look for in the future.

The Little Gull (in center of the photo) spotted (or re-found?) by Tom Johnson, on the edge of a group of Bonaparte’s Gulls and Forster’s Terns. Note the light primaries with the black underside visible on a twisted wing feather. Photo by Jeanine Apgar.

Here’s a small part of the flock, with the Black-headed Gull on the far right, in the company of Bonaparte’s Gulls. Note the dark primary wingtips on all these birds compared with the Little Gull’s light wingtips shown in the photo above.

Now I am curious: were there actually THREE Little Gulls there today (two of which flew off, and one on the sandbar that we missed) or only two, one of which returned without our noticing it? Either way, it was a great sighting, a great day, and a great learning experience.

Later on, we spotted our first Barn Swallow, first Eastern Towhees, and first Louisiana Waterthrush of the season. A super day for ‘Firsts’. I’m still smiling.

Birding Highlights of 2020

Dec 312020

It’s time for my annual “Birding Highlights’ post, sorting through rusty memory banks (and eBird checklists) to recall my favorite birding moments of the year. This year I spent approximately half of the year in New Jersey and half of the year in Florida, so I’m going to split the list into the top five from each location. The nice thing about making a list like this is finding out that it is hard to limit the list, and bringing back to the forefront of the memory banks many great days in the field. Covid restrictions prevented any travel to exotic locations with equally exotic birds, but still it’s a good year when birds like Painted Buntings, Short-tailed Hawks, Little Stint, Ash-throated Flycatchers, Mottled Ducks, Roseate Spoonbills, Evening Grosbeaks, Western Kingbirds, and Black Guillemot don’t make the list. It’s a telling sign that my top memory from each state is not a single rarity, but just super days with friends and family.

#5 Florida: Gray-headed Swamphen. I was able to see two lifers while in Florida this year. Somehow Gray-headed Swamphen became the top target. A real thorn in my side. We visited Lake Apopka (where it is frequently seen) multiple times, but to no avail. As far as I was concerned, it might as well be called the Invisible Swamphen. Was it that hard to distinguish from the numerous Common and Purple Gallinules? Does it hide in the reeds? Finally, peering out into a pool in November, there was one in the open, in the sunshine, and it was a glorious, colorful, large, unmistakable bird that makes a Purple Gallinule look bland. Then it posed and came closer. Then two more appeared. Wow.

A Gray-headed Swamphen is great to see. But two of them…?

#4 Florida: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. It was just a normal day in July, with Rich and I deciding to bird in the local patch. A minute or two after getting out of the car, a bird flew by with an abnormally long tail. I shouted out “Scissor-tailed” and it perched on a nearby wire (as if it was proud that somebody recognized it) for documentation photos before flying onward. We were able to re-locate it twice, but it was a bird on the move and was not seen again. I’ve seen Scissor-taileds before but I think this was the first one that I found myself. They are seen occasionally in Florida, but typically in winter: this was the only one seen in peninsular Florida during summer of 2020. A nice unexpected sighting. Ya never know.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in PEAR Park.

#3 Florida: Swallow-tailed Kites. These are impressive birds. Large, elegant, with great flight behavior. Fortunately, during summer they are not uncommon, and we often had them as yard birds down here. Even though they are frequently sighted, a single bird in flight can still elicit oohs and ahhhs. Then in late July, as we were driving around the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, we spotted a cloud of them, estimating ~250 Kites feeding in the sky, the way that we might see a cloud of Tree Swallows up north. Wowie.

Swallow-tailed Kite. Imagine seeing 250 of them at once!!

#2 Florida: Whooping Cranes. Two Whooping Cranes in flight on Christmas morning. Rare and majestic. Need I say more?

#1 Florida: Ft. De Soto Park. This was one of those days where no absolute rarities were found, just a super group of Florida specialties, making for a very memorable July day with brother Rich. Magnificent Frigatebirds, Gray Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Wilson’s and Snowy and Piping Plovers, a big mixed tern flock, 35 Marbled Godwits, 33 Roseate Spoonbills, and dancing Reddish Egrets, many in great photo ops, all combined for a day that is hard to beat.

Wilson’s Plover (on left) and Snowy Plover make a great side-by-side comparison.

#5 New Jersey: Wilson’s Phalarope. Jeanine and I were having one of our typical great canoeing days in the Sedge Islands in September, harvesting a nice load of clams, swimming, and seeing a nice variety of birds. We thought that the 190 Brown Pelicans would be the top highlight, but as we returned toward shore, the flats were newly exposed with shorebirds to sort through. One of them looked slightly off for a Yellowlegs, when it landed next to a Yellowlegs. It was that direct comparison that allowed us to we realize that it was a phalarope, but we weren’t sure which one. We got nice photos, checked the field guides, and confirmed a nice Wilson’s Phalarope. Some day I’ll be able to remember their field marks without the field guide, but I just don’t see them often enough.

Our Sedge Island Wilson’s Phalarope mixed in with two Yellowlegs.

#4 New Jersey: Black-throated Gray Warbler. We were in Cape May and a Black-throated Gray Warbler had been seen in the Point neighborhood. We were roaming around, trying to re-find it (along with some of the Cape May birding gliterati). We were stretched out along Coral Ave. when Jeanine spotted it and called us over. It’s only the second Black-throated Gray that I had seen, and the first one in NJ. But better yet, was the experience of finding it for these top birders instead of the other way around.

#3 New Jersey: Razorbills. It was a super year for Razorbills. But when Jeanine and I visited the Absecon Inlet jetty in Atlantic City for the first time in February and found six of them just offshore, including five in one tight pod, it was the largest group of Razorbills that I remember seeing. I guess there’s something about Razorbills for me that makes any Razorbill day special. A Six-Razorbill Day is almost too much to ask for.

One of our Atlantic City Razorbills. Photo by Jeanine Apgar.

#2 New Jersey: Connecticut Warblers. Let’s face it. Connecticut Warblers are hard to find. There are ‘reliable’ locations to try to find them, but even being there at the right time is far from a guarantee for these skulkers. This year I was able to see five different Connecticut Warblers, with three of them being in locations where they had not been reported. That’s three more than I had seen in my whole life, found within a one-month span. Whew!

The Connecticut Warbler from Cox Hall that started the streak.

#1 New Jersey: Nashville Tennessees. OK, in this one I’m cheating a bit again, since it is not a single species. Jeanine and I had a super season birding for fall warblers in Palmyra Cove Nature Park. Dozens of Cape May Warblers in a day were not unusual. What I thought was unusual, however, was seeing the combination of Nashville Warbler and Tennessee Warbler in the same tree at the same time, since it is not necessarily easy to see either one of them individually. A cute geographical combination, dontcha think? I certainly never saw them together previously. And then it happened again. And again, on a day when there were double-digit sightings of each bird. I still can envision that single tree with six Tennessee Warblers at the same time. We finally were exhausted and had our fill, but as we were walking toward the car, we bumped into friends Joanne and Bob, who are newer birders. Well, we couldn’t leave them alone on such a great day, so we headed back and enjoyed the latter part of the day with the Nashvilles, the Tennessees, and Joanne and Bob. And by the way, it happened again when we were in Cape May…Nashville and Tennessee in the same bush at Cox Hall Creek. It got to the point where when we saw one of them, we expected the other species to appear too. Fantastic birding!

A Tennessee Warbler feeding in Palmyra Cove.

And its partner for this fall, Nashville Warbler.

A Christmas Gift

Dec 252020

My first Christmas morning in Florida felt odd….no snow, no chilly weather, no need to put on a warm parka. Instead of going to the usual locales, I decided to try a site that I had not visited previously, the Sharon Rose Wiechens Preserve in The Villages. Some nice waterfowl have been spotted in this area, so I thought maybe I could pick up a new species for the trip. I won’t go into details about The Villages, since there is nothing natural about this town/city/development, with its seemingly endless side-by-side homes and lawns interspersed with golf courses and fake village squares. The ‘preserve’ was disappointing too, consisting of a large pond adjacent to a power line right-of way with manicured lawn and a dog walk and golf course all located between the parking area and the pond. But it did have a nice ~1000-ft horseshoe-shaped boardwalk over the edge of the wetland.

The ‘preserve’ runs under a powerline (running from top-to-bottom through the center of this photo), with golf courses on the left, a dog park on top, and the boardwalk jutting into the pond toward the lower right. Some preserve.

I walked the length of the boardwalk, spotting the usual waterfowl around here…mostly Ring-necked Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, American Coots, and Common Gallinules. Since the sun was in my eyes walking in that direction, I decided to do the reverse route. As I started back, a pair of large…no, enormous…white birds flew across the pond. The slowness of the wingbeats was very noticeable. They had all-white wings except for black ‘fingertips’. The bills were straight. This combination of features leaves only one possibility…..Whooping Cranes. Yes, Whooping Cranes! There are only ~660 of them in the wild, with the majority wintering along the Texas coast, only 80 birds (!!!) in the entire eastern population, with a few pairs that overwinter in Florida. The word ”majestic’ immediately comes to mind. My camera was in the car, there was nobody else around, but I didn’t care because it was quiet (as it should be), and I had my Christmas present.

ps… Since I didn’t get any photos I went back to the area on New Year’s Day and re-found them, so they become Christmas and New Year gifts.

Purple Gallinules

Nov 112020

So you say you want to see a Purple Gallinule close-up? Well, the best place that I know of to see these birds up close and personal (no scope needed, no bins needed), is Venetian Gardens Park in Leesburg FL. How easy is it to see them? Click on the photo below to watch a short iPhone video.

Purple Gallinules walking just off of the trail, right up to me! Too close to focus with a large lens. Amazing.

Yellow-rumped Warblers and yellow-rumped warblers

Oct 102020

This past week we experienced a yearly birding rite of passage, transitioning from a nice variety of diverse warbler species early in the week to the late season monotonous swarm of Yellow-rumped Warblers that signals the approaching end of warbler season. For those who are somewhat overwhelmed by trying to identify fall warblers, with their variety of identification marks to observe (facial patterns, presence or absence of wing bars, body and head color, undertail color, tail length, bill size, behaviors, etc. etc. etc.), it is easy to get lured into thinking that if you see a bird with a yellow rump, then it must be a Yellow-rumped Warbler, right? Wrong. (editor’s note: when “Yellow-rumped Warbler” is capitalized, it means a specific species, Setophaga coronata, but without the capital letters, a “yellow-rumped warbler” could be any warbler with a yellow rump. Got it? Capitalization matters.)

OK, so here we have a fairly distant bird in a tree. But is it a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) or a confounding yellow-rumped warbler? Read on.

Let’s start by looking at a classic fall Setophaga coronata Yellow-rumped Warbler and make sure we can identify it first, and then proceed onward to the confounding species.

A classic fall Yellow-rumped Warbler, featuring dark but thin and diffuse streaks overlaid on a light gray breast, with small yellow patches on the side, a patchy brownish face and the namesake yellow rump. Unlike most warblers, they are often found in groups.

Frontal view of a classic fall Yellow-rumped Warbler, showing that the breast streaks do not continue completely across the breast.

So what other warblers can have yellow rumps? We will ignore the species that are yellow nearly all over, such as Yellow Warbler, Hooded Warbler, and Wilson’s Warbler, since the most important thing is having a yellow rump that contrasts with the rest of the body. After all, it is not merely the presence of a yellow rump that gives the Yellow-rumped Warbler its name, but instead it’s the distinction of the rump from the rest of the body color.

So let’s take a look at a few of those non-Yellow-rumped Warblers that have yellow rumps.

This guy clearly has a yellow rump, but is buffy yellow on the belly, with remnants of a rusty cap, and lacks the breast streaks of a true Yellow-rumped Warbler. This is a bright eastern Palm Warbler, whose most notable feature in the field is its nearly constant tail bobbing.

Here we have a drabber western sub-species of Palm Warbler, lacking the yellow undersides. It’s easy to see how this bird might be confused with a true Yellow-rumped Warbler, but the tail-bobbing would give it away in live view.

This bird, sporting a bright yellow rump patch, is a Magnolia Warbler. Magnolias differ from Yellow-rumped Warblers in nearly every other way, so they are not easily confused if we take the time to examine the entire bird. Visible in this photo, Magnolias have a bright white eyering, two white wing patches, and have a bright yellow breast. But if your only view is from the back, it is best not to come to a hasty decision after seeing just that bright yellow rump patch.

Here’s another warbler with a yellow rump, with little else visible, except for an overall drab gray color and yellow edging on the tail feathers. Could it be a Yellow-rumped Warbler? Decide after you see the next photo, after it turns sideways.

Here is that same bird turned sideways, giving a better field-guide view. It does have streaky sides on a dull-ish breast, similar to real Yellow-rumped Warblers, but there is no yellow patch on its side, and the wings have yellow edges to them, with a partial white wing patch. This is a drab fall Cape May Warbler (perhaps a first-year female?), easily confused with a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Here we have a frontal view of another drab Cape May Warbler, showing that the breast streaking continues across the entire breast, not just the sides. Also, as is seen here, the bill of Cape May Warbler is more pointed than that of a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

This is a brighter Cape May Warbler in fall, showing the yellow rump that is the topic of this post, but also showing a bit more yellow color on its face that is inconsistent with being a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Note also the yellow edging to the tail and wing feathers and the white wing patch.

So there you have it; we have at least four warbler species with yellow rumps, only one of which is a capitalized Yellow-rumped Warbler. We can take that fact in either of two ways: (1) we can curse the birding gods and the nomenclaturists for confounding and confusing us, or (2) we can have a healthier attitude and say that a yellow rump is simply a great field mark that helps to narrow down the number of possibilities for the warbler we are examining, and seeing it eliminates many other warbler species. I fall into that second camp, using rump color as an important criterion to differentiate the fall warblers.

It Was One Of Those Days

Sep 242020

It’s been quite a while since I’ve enjoyed one of those marvelous big fall migration warbler days. This week we’ve been having nice weather patterns with northerly or westerly winds that have been bringing those infamous confusing fall warblers and other migrants into our area. So today was ‘one of those days’ where the birds were plentiful and active throughout the day, perfect for brushing up on warbler identification and enjoying them in relatively big numbers.

Jeanine and I headed out to Palmyra Cove Nature Park on the west side of Jersey, a wonderful migrant hotspot. The day started out birdy, much the same as other days this past week. The difference was that on Saturday and Monday, the birds disappeared by around 9AM after getting off to a good start, whereas today the action continued for nine hours until exhaustion set in. I suspect that the overcast day with no winds and moderate temperature of 75 degrees helped keep the activity high.

There were multiple highlights. To start it off, we found our third Connecticut Warbler in the last two outings. Considering that I had only seen two Connecticut Warblers previously in my birding career, it was great to more than double that number within the span of less than a week.

We didn’t take photos of today’s Connecticut Warbler, opting instead to enjoy the bin views before it took off. But here’s one from two days ago. That big wide-eyed look due to the eye ring is a special treat for eastern birders.

The number of Cape May Warblers was outstanding today, especially seeing them in different plumage states. They don’t match the brilliance of their spring colors, but still we saw individuals ranging from ones with strong yellow-orange colors to almost pure dullness. Take a look at the range of what we saw today. I entered 20 Cape Mays in my eBird report, but there undoubtedly were more.

Here’s one of the brighter Cape May Warblers from today.

Another relatively bright individual.

Here’s the rear view of a Cape May Warbler, showing that not all warblers with a yellow rump are Yellow-rumped Warblers.

This is on the far drab end of the Cape May spectrum, easy to confuse with a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Tennessee Warbler is a species that usually makes my day if I see just one. Two Tennessees is a super day. Today we estimated seeing at least 15 of them. At one point we saw six of them in one small tree. This was a great opportunity to repeatedly see the fine points of identifying this tough species.

This is a classic fall Tennessee Warbler….mostly greenish-yellow, with no wingbars, having a dark line going through the eye, white undertail coverts, and a short tail. Beautiful.

This is a Tennessee Warbler in an interesting feeding position.

Another traditionally tough species for me to see is Nashville Warbler. Today I estimated seeing at least six of them. The cool thing was seeing Nashville and Tennessee Warblers in the same tree at least three times today, for a nice geographical duo.

Nashville Warbler. I love seeing that big eye-ring on a gray head.

Finally, I don’t often see Scarlet Tanagers in fall. Today we found seven of them, often close or low in the trees.

A fall Scarlet Tanager, which has no scarlet plumage at this time of year.

There were other highlights of species with lower numbers. Here’s a few of them.

Here’s a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, transitioning from breeding to non-breeding plumage. I have never seen them in this phase before today.

A feeding Black-and-white Warbler. They breed in our area so we are familiar with this little acrobat, but we still appreciate seeing them.

This is a confusing fall warbler that I originally mis-identified. (a good lesson on looking carefully before moving to the next bird) It is a female Black-throated Blue Warbler. The white ‘handkerchief’ is the diagnostic field mark.

Wild Turkeys roam the property at Palmyra.

It wasn’t all positive. This is the first Spotted Lanternfly that we have found. It is highly invasive, and was fairly common at Palmyra today. Expect to see much more of them as they spread across the state.

Overall, it was a SUPER day; perhaps the best day of fall birding that I have ever had. I hope you were able to see and study the fall warblers wherever you do your birding.

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