This Orange-crowned Warbler was observed 24 November 2007, a new late date for the species.

Spent the day at home, though I did go outside a few times to look at birds.

Weather: The forecast was for mostly cloudy skies, and it was accurate. In this case, mostly cloudy meant brief breaks of blue sky (and sun, if you were in the right place at the right time) between little rain showers that were moving through.

Birds: Connor has been scattering some bird food for the neighborhood birds. I do not think it has attracted any birds that were not around the neighborhood anyway, but it has made the Dark-eyed Juncos more inclined to spend time around our house. I think his (not so secret) hope is that the small song birds attract a raptor of some sort so he can see it.

I’m not sure how many juncos there are around, but it seems like there must be at least 20-30. They do not bunch up too tightly, so it’s difficult to say. One of them has unusual pale coloring. I think it’s one I saw three years ago, the last time we regularly fed the birds. Presumably it has returned in the intervening years, but without feeders, I did not see the juncos so much.

There were two warblers hanging around today. I’m now reasonably convinced that they are both Orange-crowned Warblers, though one of them was much more gray than I have ever seen before and has a yellow rump. They both spent most of the time (that I saw them, at least) foraging in the grass. Occasionally I saw one pull up what I presumed to be a caterpillar. As far as I now, this is the latest record of an Orange-crowned Warbler in Sitka.

Other birds I saw while outside today included a small flock of Pine Siskins, a Winter Wren or two, and two or three Song Sparrows.

Comments I received on the first post, as well as through e-mail, mostly suggested Orange Crowned-warbler, though I did have one response that it might be a Palm Warbler if it did a lot of tail pumping. As I did not notice any significant tail pumping, it probably was not a Palm Warbler, though the earlier photos showed some similarity to a Palm Warbler photographed in Gustavus recently. While the second warbler seems a bit more typical of an Orange-crowned Warbler, I’m still not absolutely convinced of the identity of the first warbler. However, it seems most likely that it’s also an Orange-crowned Warbler perhaps of the Taiga race (Vermivora celata celata), rather than the more typically seen (in Sitka) Pacific race (V. c. lutescens). The yellow rump still seems a bit strange, but otherwise things seem to fit.

(click on thumbnails for larger)

This Orange-crowned Warbler was observed 24 November 2007, a new late date for the species.

This Orange-crowned Warbler was observed 24 November 2007, a new late date for the species.

Eating a caterpillar(?)
Still showing a yellow rump
Apparent pale supercilium in earlier photo seems to have been an artifact
Faint pale yellow wash on breast, contrasts against pale gray of throat and head.
Caught another caterpillar(?)

The second warbler, presumed to be an Oranged-crowned Warbler. I believe it’s a new late record for this species in Sitka.

Additional photos can be found at:
24 November Photos: Backyard Birdsx