Yep, that's it! While I haven't found any quite as weird as the bird I saw, the mask definitely seems identical to several, and one shows small blotches on the upper breast.
Thanks, Jay! Alicia On 5/14/2014 11:59 AM, Jay McGowan wrote: > Hi Alicia, > Warbler hybrids do occur, but in general they are less frequent (or at > least less frequently reported) than in some other groups, such as > ducks. The exception of course is Blue-winged x Golden-winged crosses, > which are seen quite frequently, especially in this part of the world. > The bird you describe sounds to me like an immature male American > Redstart, which look essentially identical to females their first year > but often look blotchily transitional their second. I just saw a > similar looking bird to what you describe at Sapsucker Woods, mostly > like a female redstart but with a small black mask and blotchy black > markings on the body. Take a look at some photos on the web and see if > that seems reasonable for what you saw. > > -Jay > > > On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 11:52 AM, Alicia Plotkin <t...@zoom-dsl.com > <mailto:t...@zoom-dsl.com>> wrote: > > Hi, > > As often happens after storms in May, we had a bunch of > warblers in our yard this morning, and I just got in from four > hours of watching them. (Since the part of our yard involved is > only about an acres, this is a lot of time - partly it was birdy, > partly it's hard to come in when there is anything at all to watch > or hear.) One bird definitely was not a standard issue warbler, > but I don't have a camera so am reduced to looking at other > people's pictures, although it was extremely cooperative and > staying in clear view at or a little above eye level for 20 > minutes and may still be there for all I know! (But my neighbors > with cameras have all gone to work.) It seemed redstart-ish in > many ways - size, feeding patterns, songs variable and generally > w/i the redstart spectrum - and it also in many ways was like a > female redstart in overall color. However, the tail had a bit > less yellow, it had a single short and very slim buffy wingbar, > and, most peculiarly, it s head had a greyish cast and also a > black mask that extended to the eyes. It had the same yellow > shoulder patches but it also had a fairly large blotch of black on > it's upper breast that was slightly off center to the left, where > it met the yellow patch, but didn't extend nearly as far to the > right; and a much smaller blotch a bit below that and on the > right, with one or two very short vertical black lines below that > smaller blotch. The rest of the chin and breast, all the way to > the tail, were white. > > I don't really expect anyone to recognize this bird from this > description, but if you could point me toward a resource with > photos. I'd be much obliged. > > Alicia > oob in Ovid > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > > > > -- > Jay McGowan > Macaulay Library > Cornell Lab of Ornithology > jw...@cornell.edu <mailto:jw...@cornell.edu> > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
