Warbler I.D. anyone?

[Ed Kelley]

I'm terrible with warblers, and to be honest, I haven't tried very hard to I.D. this one, too busy, too lazy. Any clues or positive I.D. would be appreciated.

Taken at Lake Mattamuskeet in eastern N.C. on Dec. 30, 2008

Thanks!
Ed

[Dan Brown]

Looks like a Palm Warbler to me:)

[Ed Kelley]

Thanks Dan, I'll go along with that.
Ed

[James Prudente]

Ed,

A great aid in ID of warblers is the Peterson Field Guides Warblers by Jon Dunn and Kimball Garrett. Excellent illustrations and photos and comprehensive discussion of each species.

Jim

[Ed Kelley]

Ed,

A great aid in ID of warblers is the Peterson Field Guides Warblers by Jon Dunn and Kimball Garrett. Excellent illustrations and photos and comprehensive discussion of each species.

Jim

Jim, I do own that book, but I had forgotten about it until you posted this. I found it in my library--wow, it's huge! Now I have no excuse to study up on warblers!

Thanks,
Ed

[Robert Strickland]

It is a Palm Warbler. I use the National Geograhic Field Guide to birds of north America to ID some of my birds

[John Chardine]

Again it's often useful to say why you think it is this or that species. In this case, the overall grey/green colouration with the bright yellow under-tail coverts, and the facial pattern "say" Palm. The faint barring on the flanks does not show up well in this bird, maybe because it's fluffed-up.

[Wayne Richardson]

Again it's often useful to say why you think it is this or that species

I agree wholeheartedly with John on this point & such an approach will help others improve their ID skills.

As I'm not too busy or lazy this morning (sorry Ed I just couldn't resist :D) then I'll go a even further than John & point out that this is the brown (western) race of Palm Warbler based on ID features & range. This bird has dull upperparts, a whitish supercilium & obvious contrast between yellow undertail coverts/belly. This SSP winters further north, so its NC location in December would eliminate the yellow (eastern) race.

I have a soft spot for Palms, as this was the 1st wood warbler I ever encountered.

Cheers: Wayne