One warbler from yesterday in St Louis, MO (1 Viewer)

T

Thibaud

Well-known member

• Sep 24, 2018

• #1

Hello,

I was at the Missouri Botanical Garden yesterday, with a good number of migrant warblers moving around (redstart, magnolia, chestnut-sided, parula, B&W, etc).
Then this one bird came in and perched in a tree right above me, where I was able to take the pictures attached herewith, before it took off, never to be seen again...
I'm wondering if this might be a bay-breasted?

As always, many thanks in advance

T

 

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TLeukering

Well-known member

• Sep 24, 2018

• #2

The tail pattern and overall plumage color and pattern restrict the options to Blackpoll and Bay-breasted. The latter species is decidedly more frequent in fall in Missouri than is the former (eBird frequency graphs for Missouri below):

Bay-breasted

Blackpoll

While I would not want to ID a bird solely on relative frequencies, this difference does provide a good starting point. The flank area is one of the useful features differentiating these two similar species. However, none of the pix show the area well. The under-tail coverts provide another useful ID point, but this bird's coverts seem to not be definitive -- being somewhat creamy, but seemingly somewhat white, depending upon the photo ogled. However, what little we can see of the bird's toes looks quite dark (one toe is visible reasonably well in the headless pic), and that rules out Blackpoll.

 

Andy Adcock

Worst person on Birdforum

• Sep 24, 2018

• #3

TLeukering said:

The tail pattern and overall plumage color and pattern restrict the options to Blackpoll and Bay-breasted. The latter species is decidedly more frequent in fall in Missouri than is the former (eBird frequency graphs for Missouri below):

Bay-breasted

Blackpoll

While I would not want to ID a bird solely on relative frequencies, this difference does provide a good starting point. The flank area is one of the useful features differentiating these two similar species. However, none of the pix show the area well. The under-tail coverts provide another useful ID point, but this bird's coverts seem to not be definitive -- being somewhat creamy, but seemingly somewhat white, depending upon the photo ogled. However, what little we can see of the bird's toes looks quite dark (one toe is visible reasonably well in the headless pic), and that rules out Blackpoll.

Click to expand...

I thought the exact opposite, looks like it has a pale foot in that shot unless it's an artifact of the light?

 

KenM

Well-known member

• Sep 24, 2018

• #4

I'm thinking perhaps Pine Warbler, they can look pretty drab not unlike the subject bird....also appears to have an eye-stripe through pale concentric eye-ring?

Cheers

 

T

tom baxter

Well-known member

• Sep 25, 2018

• #5

everything about this looks like Bay-breasted to me. Pine warbler has a longer bill, the cute little head and bill look spot on for Bay-breasted in my opinion.

 

K

Kratter

Well-known member

• Sep 25, 2018

• #6

Agree with Bay-breasted. The feet in Blackpoll are usually decidedly yellow, not just pale. Pine Warbler has a bigger bill and much longer tail.

Andy

 

Birdbrain22

Well-known member

• Sep 25, 2018

• #7

I see Bay-breasted here too.

 

T

Thibaud

Well-known member

• Sep 27, 2018

• #8

Great, thanks very much to all of you!

 

KC Foggin

Very, very long time member

Supporter

• Sep 27, 2018

• #9

It seems to match up well with the Google images of Bay-breasted