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Female yellow-rumped warbler? Utah, USA (1 Viewer)

Katemail13

Southeastern Utah, USA
Hi, folks. This was taken 2 days ago, on a day when there were LOTS of yellow-rumped warblers around. This one seems a little too BROWN to be one...is it a female or juvenile? Or is it something else entirely?
 

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It's certainly a yellow-rumped, aka, butter-butt.

As to the sex, it's hard to tell for me this time of the year as they all look pretty drab but this one seems a bit drabber than even mine so I'd probably label it a female.
 
Seeing as Yellow-rump doesn't officially exist as a species anymore (having been split) I would guess that what you have here is an Audubon's Warbler. I don't have as much experience with them as Myrtle Warbler but I think the duller throat and plain brown head at least points in that direction. Not a big fan of the name butter butt but wonder which species (Audubon's or Myrtle) will now get this tag. After all can't really use it for both species can we? Be a little confusing.
 
Seeing as Yellow-rump doesn't officially exist as a species anymore (having been split) I would guess that what you have here is an Audubon's Warbler. I don't have as much experience with them as Myrtle Warbler but I think the duller throat and plain brown head at least points in that direction. Not a big fan of the name butter butt but wonder which species (Audubon's or Myrtle) will now get this tag. After all can't really use it for both species can we? Be a little confusing.

Has anyone other than IOC split Yellow-rumped? As far as “butterbutt” is concerned, I don’t like it either, but imagine that most people who do will continue to apply it to both “species” as an informal alternative to “Yellow-rumped”.
 
As mentioned the IOC has split them, (IMHO) the AOU is lagging behind on this, but I am pretty certain it's just a matter of time. They are on my North American list as two separate species. Whether they are lumped or not currently by the AOU it's probably worth working out what subspecies/species Yellow-rumps are for future splits.

You can check out the proposals for the AOU NACC here: http://www.aou.org/committees/nacc/proposals/pending.php
 
As mentioned the IOC has split them, (IMHO) the AOU is lagging behind on this, but I am pretty certain it's just a matter of time.

Yes, but that means YRWA still officially exists as a species as far as most American birders are concerned. It's not over until the fat lady sings.

Best,
Jim
 
"What goes around, comes around"!

They used to be separate species!

And for a very good reason it seems!

Hey Jim - I guess you can hang onto your one species if you like - personally I prefer them as two - still whatever stance you take it's probably worth noting now what subspecies (if that's how you want to consider them still) an individual is for future reference.
 
They are on my North American list as two separate species. Whether they are lumped or not currently by the AOU it's probably worth working out what subspecies/species Yellow-rumps are for future splits.[/url]

I keep track of most field-diagnosable “subspecies” anyway, not being too concerned about what the AOU (much less the IOC) thinks of them. That’s a nice thing about birding: as long as you’re not in formal competition with other birders you can make up your own rules.
 
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And for a very good reason it seems!

Hey Jim - I guess you can hang onto your one species if you like - personally I prefer them as two - still whatever stance you take it's probably worth noting now what subspecies (if that's how you want to consider them still) an individual is for future reference.

Sure, you can treat them as you see fit--and yours may well be the better reasoned view. But you used the word "officially" in your first post, and every North American Field Guide I'm aware of follows the AOU, and eBird and the ABA, and US FWS also follow the AOU, so that's what most American birders consider the "official" view. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but I've already had other people tell me they've been split, which caused me some confusion, and just want to make clear what has happened in this thread, so others do not get confused about the status.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up on the possibility of the future split (by the AOU).

Cheers,
Jim
 
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