The Florida bird was initially accepted by the Florida Bird Records Committee and then later reconsidered. Here is a clip from the committee proceedings:
"RC 85-075. Bachman's Warbler, Vermivora bachmanii. 30 March 1977. Lake Washington, west of Melbourne, Brevard Co. This record, accepted by the FOSRC in 1985, is described in Barber (1985). Five photographs and a written analysis, which includes some transcribed opinions of S. D. Ripley and R. F. Pasquier from the National Museum of Natural History, H. M. Stevenson from Florida, and N. K. Johnson and S. F. Bailey from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, were originally submitted to the FOSRC. The original correspondence from the experts, however, is not in the FOSRC file. In addition, Barber and Dan Heathcote, who also saw the Brevard Co. bird, visited the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, to study warbler specimens. This identification is particularly intriguing, because the next most recent confirmation of this probably extinct species was in 1962 in South Carolina. In their warbler monograph, Dunn and Garrett (1997) questioned the identification as a Bachman's Warbler. Dunn and Garrett (1997) concluded that this was a female “Golden” Yellow Warbler (D. petechia, petechia group), which is resident in mangroves in southernmost Florida and throughout most of the Caribbean. However, they did not provide reasons for their conclusion. Interestingly, this identification was never considered by either the original observers or the consulted experts. With the recent question of the identity of this bird, the FOSRC decided to re-assess the submission. Along with digital copies of the original photos, the FOSRC had a digital photograph posted to the Internet of three Bachman Warbler specimens from VIREO (Visual Resources of Ornithology), and specimens of Golden Yellow Warblers and North American (aestiva group) Yellow Warblers from the FLMNH and Archbold Biological Station. The photographs of the 1977 bird, none of which is very sharp, show a very drab pale brownish warbler, whitish below with a band of pale yellow across the chest, no wingbars, indistinct yellow edges to the remiges and maybe some coverts. The primary extension appears short. The bill appears to have a slightly curved maxilla. The plumage matches some Bachman's Warblers, but may also approach some female Golden Yellow Warblers, though none of the specimens or photographs we examined show such drab plumage in a spring female. The primary extension of Bachman's Warbler appears long in the VIREO photographs, but the angle of the photographs does not permit an accurate assessment of this character. Unlike Yellow Warblers of the aestiva group, Golden Yellow Warblers have short primary extension. The Brevard Co. bird does not appear to have the pronounced decurved bill typical of Bachman's Warbler, but the observers felt it matched a female specimen at the Academy of Natural Sciences. The Committee felt that it needed more comparative material to overturn a prior FOSRC decision and voted to table the vote."
