Two northern California birds from Christmas morning 2022 (1 Viewer)

[vbnut]

I took the first two photos at one of the percolation ponds at Los Gatos Creek County Park in Campbell, CA late Christmas morning 2022. I assume its some kind of Goose, maybe domesticated or hybrid, but it doesn't seem to match anything in my books.

The third photo is from further down the Los Gatos Creek Trail at Vasona Lake in Los Gatos in the early afternoon the same day. My best guess is a Yellow-rumped Warbler, but I'm not sure.

Any help identifying these birds would be appreciated.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

The “goose” is a domestic mallard, right down to the curly tail feathers.

 

[THE_FERN]

The “goose” is a domestic mallard, right down to the curly tail feathers.

And the warbler is yellow-rumped

 

[tom baxter]

That yellow rumped warbler looks like it might be of the Myrtle subspecies, which is actually a pretty good sighting if it is one. 99% of them are Audubon’s in CA. Myrtle are not considered “rare” in most regions, but they are quite scarce outside of some specific regions of CA in my experience.

Edit: it seems like that location where you went does have some higher than typical density according to ebird reports. I see several reports from this year with upwards of 5 individuals and one reports with as many as 15. I’ve only seen this in person a few times in the past 7 years of traveling all throughout California, from Oregon border down to Mexican border. Seems likely that this is a Myrtle, sure looks like one.

 

[vbnut]

The “goose” is a domestic mallard, right down to the curly tail feathers.

Interesting. I didn't believe my phone's Seek app when it told me it was a Mallard because it "obviously" wasn't a Mallard. Live and learn I guess

 

[vbnut]

That yellow rumped warbler looks like it might be of the Myrtle subspecies, which is actually a pretty good sighting if it is one. 99% of them are Audubon’s in CA. Myrtle are not considered “rare” in most regions, but they are quite scarce outside of some specific regions of CA in my experience.

Edit: it seems like that location where you went does have some higher than typical density according to ebird reports. I see several reports from this year with upwards of 5 individuals and one reports with as many as 15. I’ve only seen this in person a few times in the past 7 years of traveling all throughout California, from Oregon border down to Mexican border. Seems likely that this is a Myrtle, sure looks like one.

That's fascinating. I've never photographed a yellow-rumped warbler before, and I'm not sure I've ever seen one, so its pretty interesting that my first one is the Myrtle variant. The photos I see, both online and in my bird books show the Myrtle having a white throat while the Audubon's is yellow. It might be the light/shadows, but in my photo(s) it seems like the throat isn't the pure white or bright yellow I see in the other photos.. It definitely has the cheek patch though. I wonder if it could be a hybrid.

 

[Butty]

in my photo(s) it seems like the throat isn't the pure white or bright yellow I see in the other photos

Pure white throat is adult male breeding only - so yours is fine, and no need to consider intergrades.

 

[tom baxter]

That's fascinating. I've never photographed a yellow-rumped warbler before, and I'm not sure I've ever seen one, so its pretty interesting that my first one is the Myrtle variant. The photos I see, both online and in my bird books show the Myrtle having a white throat while the Audubon's is yellow. It might be the light/shadows, but in my photo(s) it seems like the throat isn't the pure white or bright yellow I see in the other photos.. It definitely has the cheek patch though. I wonder if it could be a hybrid.

Technically, since Myrtle and Audubon's are considered the same species, they would not be considered hybrids, but rather integrades. As butty stated, there is no obvious need to consider this bird as an intergrade. It falls far on the side of Myrtle. It is more or less guarunteed however, that members of these two subspecies have not so distant common parental lineage. There is a frequent rate of integrade birds among these populations. There are many places in Central and Northern California where Myrtle is notably represented, and this seems to be much less the case the further south you get in the state. Anecdotally, it seems like Myrtles are usually in higher numbers at certain parks, in artificial lawn habitats, or sometimes in Eucalyptus areas, but once you are in a more native landscape, Audubon's dominate the state of California. This could simply be because higher density of birds at parks yield more frequent sightings of uncommon birds, or it could be because Myrtle has a habitat preference for places that resemble eastern habitat where they are the dominant subspecies. This is solely based on my personal observation just to be clear.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Technically, since Myrtle and Audubon's are considered the same species, they would not be considered hybrids, but rather integrades. As butty stated, there is no obvious need to consider this bird as an intergrade. It falls far on the side of Myrtle. It is more or less guarunteed however, that members of these two subspecies have not so distant common parental lineage. There is a frequent rate of integrade birds among these populations. There are many places in Central and Northern California where Myrtle is notably represented, and this seems to be much less the case the further south you get in the state. Anecdotally, it seems like Myrtles are usually in higher numbers at certain parks, in artificial lawn habitats, or sometimes in Eucalyptus areas, but once you are in a more native landscape, Audubon's dominate the state of California. This could simply be because higher density of birds at parks yield more frequent sightings of uncommon birds, or it could be because Myrtle has a habitat preference for places that resemble eastern habitat where they are the dominant subspecies. This is solely based on my personal observation just to be clear.

And for the sake of completeness it might be worth mentioning that Myrtle Warbler and Audubon's Warbler are considered to be separate species by some (major) taxonomic authorities and subspecies of the same species by others.

 

[vbnut]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I'm not really a birder, more of hobbyist wildlife photographer that takes a lot of pictures of birds because I see more of them than other wildlife. I do try to caption my photos accurately however, which is why I occasionally ask questions here. This is such a great place to learn, and this thread is an example of me learning way more than I expected. Thanks again.

 

[KC Foggin]

Yup! Mallard and a butter butt aka Yellow-rumpled Warbler!