This week's weather has been only slightly better than last week's... but we have had a couple of banding days. Andrea and Linnea were out netting birds on Monday, when Linnea pulled a new sort of warbler out of a net. We weren't sure what it was at first, thinking it was possibly just a confusing fall warbler... but after perusing our Sibley's Guide, we thought it might be a hybrid warbler. Our initial thoughts on what it might be included Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Northern Parula, or Cape May Warbler. We then proceeded to call Sarah Sargent up from her office, and also contacted Jerry McWilliams, to have their expert opinions. Jerry was so kind as to bring his camera and document the bird through pictures, and we took various measurements. This all escalated into a flurry of emails to various birders, to get more opinions on what the bird was. We did not band it, since we could not identify it correctly, but it is just one case of the many fascinating things we find when studying birds.
Here are some pictures of our rogue warbler (below, you will also find the measurements we took, in case you are interested):
Measurements and plumage description:
weight: 9.6 g
wing: 61 mm
tail: 42 mm
exposed culmen: 10.9 mm
bill width at nares: 3.5 mm
bill depth at nares: 3.1 mm
longest primary-longest secondary: 19 mm
The bird was AHY by plumage and tail shape. It had a split eye ring, and a buffy eye line that extended into the lores. There was a small amount of white on R6, and a white edge on R5. It had an orangey wash on the back and rump. It had a slightly decurved bill that looked rather large.
Check out our link to our photos (on the right) to see more pictures of this warbler!
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