Rare Bird Report 48-B-08

IDAHO BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE
RARE BIRD REPORT FORM


SPECIES:  


Nashville Warbler


HOW MANY:


one, adult male?


REPORTER:  


Gary Worthington
8109 W. Powell St.
Boise, ID 83714


208 853-2599


REPORTER EMAIL:  


worthingtonjanet@yahoo.com


OTHER OBSERVERS:


none


DATE REPORT PREPARED:  


December 15, 2008


DATE SIGHTING OCCURRED:  


December 10, 2008


LOCALITY OF OBSERVATION:


8109 W. Powell St.
Boise, ID 


HABITAT:


suburban backyard


CONDITIONS:


The sighting lasted less than 2 minutes.  Excellent conditions, sunny and warm (about 40F). The bird was about 25 ft. away in good light.  I saw it first with the naked eye and then through 8X42 binoculars. 


DID YOU TAKE NOTES?:  


Yes, later the same day


DID YOU CONSULT FIELD GUIDE OR OTHER REFERENCES?:  


Yes, later the same day


WHAT GUIDE(S) OR REFERENCE(S) DID YOU CONSULT?:


1.  Nation Geographic, 3rd Ed.


2.  Warblers, Peterson Field Guides


DESCRIPTION:  


Notes (written shortly after the sighting):  Complete white eye-ring, grayish head, bright yellow on throat and on the undersides.  Greenish on topside.  Nashville Warbler




BEHAVIOR:  


The bird was moving about in the lower branches of a rose bush that somehow had kept most of its leaves through recent winds. Juncos and finches were feeding at a nearby platform feeder that is about 1.5 feet high.  The bird was moving during the whole time of the observation.  It did a complete circuit around the lower branches of the bush, poking under leaves (I never saw it actually find anything.)and then moved to a nearby bush that was stripped of leaves and flew off.


HOW AND WHEN DID YOU POSITIVELY IDENTIFY THE BIRD, AND WHAT CLINCHED THE IDENTIFICATION FOR YOU?


I was hanging laundry on my back patio when I noticed House Finch and Junco on my feeder.  I stepped back to watch them and then noticed a bird with bright yellow on it in a nearby rose bush.  I slipped in, grabbed my binoculars and focused on the bird and knew immediately it was a Nashville Warbler, when I saw the combination of complete white eye-ring, grayish head, and yellow throat.


HOW DID YOU ELIMINATE SIMILAR SPECIES, AND WHAT WERE THEY?


The other eye-ring bearing warblers do not have the combination of gray head and yellow throat. The Virgina and Mourning don't have the bright yellow throat; Orange-crowned may appear at times to have a complete eye-ring, but the throat isn't as bright yellow and the undersides are lightly streaked; the female Yellowthroat is brown on top.


EXPERIENCE WITH THIS SPECIES (AND SIMILAR SPECIES):  


 I am familiar with Nashville Warbler, primarily from the east. I encountered them frequently doing blocks for the second New York breeding bird atlas. 


GENERAL BIRDING EXPERIENCE:  


 I have been birding 35+ years and although the eyes and ears aren't quite as sharp as they once were, I'm still good. And careful. 


WERE PHOTO(S), VIDEO, AND/OR AUDIO OBTAINED BY YOU?:  


None