sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

Black-throated green warbler? Someone out there will know....this bird has such great marks to ID with!


(Minnesota)

It looks like a Savannah Sparrow - pretty soon they will be coming in bunches.

I agree with Ward. It's clearly a sparrow/finch type bird from the bill (the shape of which eliminates choices like warblers or vireos); the markings eliminate a female "red" type finch (House Finch, Purple Finch, etc.); the notched tail and pinkish legs confirm it's a Savannah as opposed to, say, a Song Sparrow (which it does resemble otherwise).

I like to spell out how I work through ID's like this, for a couple of reasons. First, when I (inevitably) miss something, it's easy for someone else to correct me - gently, I hope - and point out what I'm overlooking.

Second, hopefully it's instructive for new birders to see how to work through ID issues; one of the most daunting things for new birders is to see a bird, have no idea what it is, and turn to a field guide only to realize it could be anywhere in there.

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge LA

Thanks Kristie Ward and Kevin. At first I thought it looked like an unusual looking oven bird or song sparrow.

I have another bird that needs an id. This picture is pretty awful sorry about that. Maybe a palm warbler that has white eyes.


sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

With that rufous crown and dark eye line, I believe your last bird is a Palm Warbler Sarah, congrats on your sighting and shots... judging by the bright yellow on the chest and what appears to be rufous streaking, so it is probably an Eastern Palm Warbler. Palm Warblers have over-wintered by where my sister lives in South Seattle but alas, I have not yet added this bird to my life list, so take what I say with a grain of salt...

Ruth
Everett, WA
Zone 8

Ruth is right, all the photo needs is the pumping tail.

Good for you Kevin, I am always sneaking in from the office and don't have time for details. The computer at home is just too slow. There is also a side of me that thinks the only way to learn is to muddle through to an answer oneself, and that is where discussion comes in handy. One thing that photos don't always show is where a bird is. One would expect that the Palm flushed from a field and then landed in a Black Willow to have his picture taken. It would not be surprising if the Sarah's pictures of Savannah and Palm were from exactly the same place.

Just as an aside, the apparent color of the eyes is likely an artifact, either of a camera flash or of the sunlight. I agree with Palm Warbler - they've been coming through here in large groups lately and are such cutie patooties.

Jill

Benton, ME
Canon Digital Rebel XT
Canon EF70-300 F4-5.6 IS USM

Thank you Ruth and Ward!

Ward and Kevin thank you both for your patience and helpful lessons.

Ward this was taken at Church Farm School in Exton Pennsylvania (Chester county) That place is full of birds but hard to see them because its very overgrown. I usually go birding there every thursday.

This past saturday there was a clean-up make a difference day there where we did Riparian buffer plantings,Pond clean-up and Garden plantings.

Some of the regular birders were concerned that cleaning out some of the invasive trees and shrubs would be bad for the sparrows. Although we planted lots of native trees and shrubs. Unfortunatly we couldn't get rid of the soy bean fields since the fields are leased to farmers. I think the government actually pays farmers to grow that invasive asian bean. Probably the only birds that eat soybeans are starlings house sparrows and pigeons since that would be a native bean to them. Anyway I pulled out alot of mile a minute vines what a joke I barely made a dent I'm sure it will have grown back even more by next week

Hey Jill thanks thats what I thought! How've you been haven't seen you post in a while. Anyway it's good to see you posting again! How are your Alpacas doing?
sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

A soy bean fields condition has a lot to do with it value to birds, particularly sparrows. Those that don't get regular herbicide treatments often have lots of weeds and that is what sparrows want.

Mile-a-minute vine is a mixed story. It is very bad botanically since the vines smother the competition but the berries are perfectly timed for berry eating warblers in the fall. Last year it seemed I wasn't finding the usual number of Black-throated Blue Warblers at Palmyra and I started nosing around. It turned out they were all hanging out around the the vines. As you point out we are going to have to learn to live with this vine, we will never get rid of it now. Other odd examples are Japanese Hops. There must be something to eat in their tangles because they usually harbor Connecticut Warblers, Indigo Buntings, Orchard Orioles and a host of other migrants. Now if I could find a positive side to Japanese Knotweed. Deer compound all these problems because they do not eat most of the invasives. They literally clear the ground for their expansion.

Hey, Sarah, all is well here - just had our big open house and I'm taking a class, too, so I'm not online (or birding) as much as I'd like. The 'pacas are all doing great, too - we had three babies this year and are expecting EIGHT this spring if all goes well - ack!

Jill

Benton, ME
Canon Digital Rebel XT
Canon EF70-300 F4-5.6 IS USM

Ward -

The very phrase "usual number of Black-throated Blue Warblers" made me laugh so hard I almost choked. As you probably know, this is an eastern migrant which, even more than most eastern warblers, rarely makes it anywhere close to the Mississippi River. My birding mentor Nancy was able to go on an ornithological field expedition to Cuba in February 2008, where she saw three of them; as she noted then, that's about a ten-year supply for Louisiana. This is probably the #1 warbler I want to add to my life list, and it's easily in the top 10 birds I want to add as well.

Then again, I've got a birding student we've taken under our collective wings here, who's from western Colorado. He found one on a Christmas count there a few years back. Adult male, no less! Life just isn't fair sometimes!

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge, LA

Sorry about that Kevin, and I do understand, since we all have examples of such birds. I am still here waiting to accidentally bump into a Swallow-tailed Kite. It has been a lifetime so far, and even though we get them it requires luck. It is hard to complain about warblers when we have Ruth over there on the far side of the country missing most of the eastern warblers. In a way it is the gaps that provide the spice to birding. They keep us just slightly on edge because even though a bird like Black-throated Blue takes a left turn before it reaches you, they do have wings and can appear out of nowhere.

Jill Wow I know you are busy with all those alpacas and more on the way and taking classes too, good for you!

Ward I heard about the Connecticut warbler and their fondness for hops. Even so I wonder what they ate before the hops invasion? And what did the black throated blue eat before the mile a minute showed up,poke weed viburnum dentatum spice bush? There are a lot of native berries around poison ivy jack in the pulpit I have three gigantic elderberry trees/shrubs which were full of berries last month. I guess the catbirds cleaned them out because there are none left. There's chokeberry bayberry juniper berry several species of native dogwoods that produce September berries that are whitish and bluish in color Maybe they would eat that instead.

Ward I hope you see a swallow-tailed kite soon. And Kevin I hope you get to see a breeding male black-throated blue soon as well.

sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

Yes, they eat all of that and more. The two fall biggies for berry migrants are poison ivy and virginia creeper, they literally fuel fall migration. And then there are the insects.

I am laughing at myself....and feeling a little like a dork for even suggesting a warbler! LOL! The pink legs stand out like a neon sign...but I will admit the bill made me think vireo at first.

I'm blaming my head cold!


(Minnesota)

Kristy -

Don't feel bad at all - I've come to the conclusion that the longer we bird, the more we have to "unlearn" instead of learn, in terms of jumping to conclusions. A few years ago I was birding with some friends on a very early spring morning and I saw a bird land at the top of a tree which hadn't leafed out yet. I caught a quick glimpse of what appeared to be bright orange and black and called out "Oriole!". Of course, it was the angle of the sun making the bird appear orange and black; it was actually (believe it or not) a Blue Jay, with the crest not raised, reflecting the early morning sun.

So what I'm trying to learn to do is, instead of going straight for markings - at least on smaller birds; markings on something like a wood stork can be safely examined - is to first narrow down the bird to group, then to a subgrouping of similar-looking birds, then to a specific bird. In this case, bill shape led me right to "sparrows and finches", which both let me eliminate all the striped warblers, thrushes, etc., and also let me zero in on the striped finches and sparrows - which eliminated all the plain-breasted sparrows. That leaves a workable small number of birds to compare what we can see from the pictures.

It's not foolproof, but so far it's helping somewhat in not jumping to an ID prematurely.

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge, LA

Kristy don't feel bad! when I first saw this picture I thought oven bird which is a warbler. I saw a Merlin last month and thought it was a Peregrine. So I think I can safely say I am a very SLOW learner!

Ward I was thinking virginia creeper too but forgot to name it.

I can only think that corn, squash, beans, sweet potatoes, and tobacco yes tobacco are all better native crop alternatives to soy beans in my opinion. I guess you can tell I am not a fan of soy beans I like it about as much as mile a minute.

sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

Well, thank you for cheering me up, guys!
I actually don't mind looking foolish here. Nobody has ever given me a hard time about it...much unlike the first birdwatching board I belonged to way back when! Besides, I've been humbled plenty throughout my life...I've learned to cope! LOL


(Minnesota)

Ward someone on the Pennsylvania birding listserve posted this picture and I thought of you



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Notice that it is eating Japanese Hops. I have never seen a bird eat this plant before.


sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

This weekend I broke open several fuzzy hops buds and found nice sized hard black seeds, that must be what the Grosbeaks are eating.