[obol] Possible early Yellow Warbler

[Tim Rodenkirk]

I agree with Tim on this one.  I think it's a few
weeks to early to even expect Yellow Warbler and right
on for the OC Warbler migration. 

There was a recent posting by Paul Sullivan and others
on ID mistakes that beginner birders can make.  I
think one of the hardest things for beginner birders
if they have not developed a sense of when a species
should be expected and the habitat it is normally
found it. Which brings up a story from this past
winter.  Got a call from a local birder who had a Lark
Sparrow coming to their feeder, a rare species in Coos
County, especially coming to a feeder?!  I was also
leery of the habitat where her house was- a wooded
area near Charleston (Lark Sparrow are birds of open
grassy areas).  However, the observer was "100%, no
1000% sure" that she had a Lark Sparrow at her feeder.
 I went to check it out and saw a White-throated
Sparrow which she had thought was a Lark Sparrow and
still was convinced was a Lark Sparrow even as we
looked at the bird and I showed her a drawing of a
White-throated Sparrow in the Sibley Guide.  I had to
painstakingly go over ID characteristics to finally
convince her it was not a Lark Sparrow!  She was
looking at it through binos and even a spotting scope
during this time and was utterly convinced of her ID. 


The habitat association thing is also important
although Yellow Warbler could show up about anywhere
in migration.  I remember a report of a McKay's
Bunting coming to a feeder in the Empire area a couple
winters ago.  I knew this species would never come to
a feeder in a wooded area and guessed it was a
leucistic example of some other species- turns out it
was a House Finch although at least one birder we
could never refind (who took video of it) was sure he
had his lifer McKay's Bunting!

I'm sure we'll get plenty more reports of "early"
migrants from beginning birders.  It is to be expected
though, and is actually an annual event on OBOL! It is
important that the more experienced birders out there
help correct some of these mistakes so the new birders
can get "edacated" by us old geezers.  Should be some
early reports of Swainson's Thrush and Common
Nighthawk coming in any day now...

Of course, there is always the remote chance that
there was an early Yellow Warbler, in which case this
old geezer gets to eat crow, which I  personally know
is somewhat tasty.

Bon appetit!
Tim R
Coos Bay

--- Tim Janzen <tjanzen at comcast.net> wrote:

> Dear Al,
> 
>             Did he check to see if the bird had an
> orange crown while he had
> the bird in hand?  I think that an inexperienced
> birder could misidentify an
> Orange-crowned Warbler if he didn't consider that
> possibility.  The breast
> streaks on an Orange-crowned Warbler can be quite
> pronounced.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Tim Janzen
> 
>  
> 
>   _____  
> 
> From: obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu
> [mailto:obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu] On
> Behalf Of Allen Prigge
> Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 8:32 PM
> To: OBOL
> Subject: [obol] Possible early Yellow Warbler
> 
>  
> 
> This morning a friend who I would describe as not a
> very experienced birder
> told me a Yellow Warbler hit his window and was
> knocked out for a while. He
> had the bird in hand and released it when it came
> to. He noted the red
> stripes and checked a National Geographic, Birds of
> North America for
> identification. This seems like a fairly easy ID
> problem even for an
> inexperienced birder. I would think it to be a
> credible sighting.
> 
>  
> 
> Al Prigge
> 
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> 
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