IBRC 48-B-09

Idaho Bird Records Committee Rarities Report Form

Species: Magnolia Warbler

Reporter: Heidi Ware HeidiTheBirdNerd@yahoo.com

2120 Mortimer Drive Boise, ID 83712 (208) 860-5935

Other Observers: Jay Carlisle, Jack Stenger, Kathleen Cameron, Larry Barnes, Poo Wright-Pulliam, Jean Seymour

Date Report Prepared: 12/22/09

Date Sighting Occurred: 6/18/2009

Locality of Observation: Hailey, ID

Habitat: Neighborhood conifer and deciduous trees

Conditions: sunny warm day. Observed at close range for a long period of time. Bird was seen well and also sang often.

Did you take notes…

no

Did you consult a field guide or other reference work?

After the sighting. Other observers confirmed ID before looking it up

What guide(s) or reference(s) did you consult?
the Sibley Guide to Birds

Description: An adult male Magnolia Warbler. All yellow breast with dark black streaks and dark black mask on face, with white eyebrow-type marking above eye. Grayish back and top of head. See photos

Behavior: bird was first detected by song, and then spotted singing in the treetops of a nearby backyard. It sang for probably 30+ minutes while many other birders arrived to see it and photograph it.

How and when did you positively identify the bird, and what clinched the identification for you? I was eating lunch in the car with Jay and Jack at the nearby Subway restaurant. Jack is from Ohio, so recognized a “funny yellow warbler” singing outside. He suggested that it sounded like a Magnolia, so we tracked it down and proved him right! When Jay spotted it after borrowing my binoculars he told me what it was, and then I was able to find it and see for myself. I looked at the guide after seeing him to see “why” he was what he was, and agreed with everyone else who was there that it was a good ID.

How did you eliminate similar species, and what were they? With very poor looks at the bird, it could possibly have been mistaken for something like a Yellow-rumped Warbler or Townsend’s Warbler, since these (and other species) are mostly yellow, black, white and gray. But with such good looks and photos, plus considering that it was an adult male, it was pretty unmistakable.

Experience with this species (and similar species): this was my lifer Magnolia Warbler, but observers Jay and Jack, among others, have experience with this species back east.

General birding experience: I have been seriously birding for a little over a year. I now feel confident on my visual and auditory ID skills of many common Idaho bird species. I

spent the summer of ‘09 conducting bird point count surveys using both sight and sound

for ID. I also have in-hand experience with many Idaho species.

Were photo(s), video, and/or audio obtained by you? (If yes, please include or attach) see attached photos by Kathleen Cameron

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