The black-throated gray warbler.

Although there are many species of warbler, I have only seen a few. The most common ones around here seem to be the yellow-rumped warblers. Occasionally though, I get treated to seeing one I have never witnessed before. Such was the event when the black-throated gray warbler came down to the feeding station.

Warblers tend to be small perching birds, eat insects, and often utter pleasant vocal songs (hence the name). In the last few years I have photographed yellow-rumped, yellow, Wilson's, and Townsend's warblers. While photographing a group of pine siskins I noticed another bird coming to see what all the excitement was about. It was a female black throated gray warbler, the first I have ever seen, and it stuck around long enough for me to get a couple of good pictures of it. It's presence here was unusual; they do not eat from bird feeders because they are strictly consumers of insects. These birds tend to stay in thickets and heavy underbrush and so are rarely seen.

It took me quite a while to determine the species of the interloper. Males tend to be easier to identify because of the bolder colours associated with them. This was, unbeknownst to me, a female, and it required significant hunting through numerous field guides. Most warblers have at least some yellow on them, and the tiny patch of yellow between the beak and eye led me in that direction. Black throat lacking, the process of verifying my find was a little harder, but the black and white cheek pattern in combination with the yellow patch verified my suspicions. This was quite likely a juvenile still in the process of developing adult plumage.

This year has been singularly unique for me in that I have identified at least 5 new species of bird I have never seen before. This is one of the reasons I enjoy traveling and hiking. You never know what wonderful things you will discover around the next corner. Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen