
Sightings
Published Saturday September 19th, 2009
Email your sightings to salon@telegraphjournal.com


This bird was dazed after hitting our window. I wonder if you could identify it? Its chest from throat down was pale yellow; the back was an olive green; the body feathers were downy. I’m hazarding a guess at an immature yellow-bellied flycatcher. Am I close? – Lillian Warne, Hartland Well it is a good try but not quite on the mark. But it is a bird that likes insects, so that’s pretty close. This bird is actually a member of the warbler family and appears to be an immature (hatched this summer) mourning warbler. The drab plain upperparts, yellowish underparts including the throat and what appears to be a broken whitish eye-ring all add up to that species. When I first looked at it I thought it might be a young common yellowthroat (another warbler) but there is too much yellow on the lower chest and the eye-ring is too prominent. A yellowbellied flycatcher would have distinctive whitish wing bars which this bird lacks, as well as a different shaped beak, more flattened and wider than a warbler. Injured birds like this can sometimes be challenging to identify in the hand. – Jim Wilson




Advertisement


Image Information
Credit:
Not Available
Image Size:
381x268
Uploaded:
September 18, 2009


Search Articles







