Challenges of Identifying Warblers: Juv. Magnolia Warbler

Birdwatching and identifying the birds that present themselves is not a snap. It takes curiosity, perseverance, study and help from those who know. If there are two traits most associated with birdwatchers they are the willingness to help with identification and to share sightings. This is certainly true of the birdwatchers here in Newfoundland.

I chose to post a bird today that presented me with quite a challenge to identify. Help on this one came from three different birders. According to them, it was evident that the bird is an immature Magnolia Warbler, not to me.

Now, how did they come to that conclusion? I am using my very poor images that I was able to get of this little bird to share the process that I went through in order to come to the same conclusion on my own. You see, it is not good enough to get an ID from someone else and file the pictures. It is really important to understand how they determined the species.

 Here's how it all unfolded:  Another birder and I stopped on the side of the road heading out to Cape Spear. Small birds were everywhere including dozens of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Chickadees (both), Blackpoll Warblers and sparrows.  A movement low in an alder caught my eye. I moved to the area right away. The bird was staying put but very secretive. I pished a little and every now and then I would get a glimpse. This is when birding gets good. It stayed with me for about ten minutes and during that time I was able to get these four pictures that showed some detail of its plumage.

My first guess was that this was a Common Yellowthroat due to its behaviour and the bright yellow on its throat. Light and foliage can alter color and create strange effects when photographing the bird. I knew that I would need to be cognizant of that.

It was not until I was in the car flipping through the pictures on my camera that I realized that this couldn't be a Common Yellowthroat because its head was not olive green but gray. Now, I was confused.

Later in the day we bumped into two other birders who had a quick look and told me that this was an immature Magnolia Warbler. Well, this didn't look like any Magnolia that I had ever seen. To tell the truth I have seen less that five altogether but they were certainly more boldly marked than this one. I was troubled because I didn't recognize this little bird as a Magnolia. Time to hit the books!

From the pictures this is what I had to go on: 1) Bright yellow throat and breast 2) Gray head 3) Faint streaking on the yellow breast 4) Eye ring 5) Olive back 6) Two wing bars 7) Yellow rump and finally 8) White band across the tail.

The first thing I did was look for pictures in my five bird guides to find one that matched. None did. I, then, looked at the Confusing Fall Warblers pages of my guides for something that matched. None did. The head of the Magnolia in the guide did not "look" gray but rather olive green. Having two "air balls" already, I had to begin to read. When reading about the identifying features of several fall warblers, it then became evident that the only bird that had all eight elements of the plumage as shown in my pictures was the immature Magnolia Warbler. Home Run! At last I could see it for myself and not be totally reliant on others when I see this bird again.

As poor as the quality of the above pictures is, they were good enough to provide me with all that I needed to identify the bird. It is always a good idea of have a camera, any camera, handy to capture the details of a bird. For me these images provided the foundation for me to really learn about a secretive little bird that could have gotten away with absolutely no ID.

American Redstart

On the morning of August 18, I was having my morning coffee and sizing up the bird activity in my yard, as usual. I spotted a Black-capped Chickadee, and I was pleased. The BCC is an occasional visitor to my feeder and always welcome. Then I spotted a pair splashy reddish, rusty colored sparrow. Oh, this was a good morning, two Fox Sparrows had come to visit. This was a first. I continued to scan the nearby trees and my feeder and there was a Yellow Warbler - a triple basehit. My yard was alive. Then, I saw flashes of yellow on a tail. I am used to seeing flashes of white on the tail from the many Juncos that frequent the feeder but this was a definite yellow.

I pressed my binoculars so tight to my eyes that my eye sockets were hurting. It was definite this was not a Junco. I traded off my binoculars for my camera and started to shoot. I wasn't quite sure what it was but I was shooting fast and furiourly, anyway.

I watched as it flitted around the tree and I reacted with quick clicks of the shutter everytime it came into the open, even a little bit. I surmised from the beak that it must be a warbler of some sort. It was busy catching flies for breakfast.

At last it came out of the trees and gave me some close views and close scrutinity, as this picture indicates. More than ten minutes had elapsed and they were still comfortable in the yard. Needless to say, so was I. (The American Redstart is known to be tame.)

One of my guests gave me the opportunity to have a good look at the the bright yellow, fanned tail, as if to say "...here, get a good picture." Thanks to my trusty camera, I was able to review the field guides and my images, and I came to the conclusion that I had one adult female and two immature American Redstarts come to call and stay for about 30 minutes.  They all were cooperative in stepping out into the open for pictures.

This image is most likely the adult female. She was the one who caught most of the flies, but I didn't see her feeding either of the others.  I don't know how it was that this common resident of Newfoundland found its way to my yard, but I am surely glad that it did. They have not returned but I continue to watch for them and other special visitors to brighten up my yard and my day.