GAME: name that bird!

[janzin]

1 hour ago, Galana said:

Well confirmation that we are on the correct continent would help.

Well that would be a pretty big hint, but since no one has responded again I'll say at least you are on the right side of the pond

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by janzin

[Soukous]

How about a Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus)

[janzin]

6 hours ago, Soukous said:

How about a Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus)

 

sorry, no.

 

Are we going to go through all the warblers one by one? There are 118 New World warblers so you've only got 114 left  

Is everyone sure its a warbler?

[Galana]

3 hours ago, janzin said:

Is everyone sure its a warbler?

Well working through the book from Loons, Cranes, Grebes etc., I have got to Flycatchers before I find anything remotely resembling your bird. Our side of the pond and I would be looking at ReedWarblers etc., but you don't seem to have any of those.

[Soukous]

13 hours ago, janzin said:

 

sorry, no.

 

Are we going to go through all the warblers one by one? There are 118 New World warblers so you've only got 114 left  

Is everyone sure its a warbler?

Ouch!

[Galana]

15 hours ago, janzin said:

There are 118 New World warblers so you've only got 114 left  

Well a lot of them are so obviously not our subject that we can get the numbers down to a more manageable list by simple elimination..(In the absence of a hint or clue.)

Wilson's maybe?

[inyathi]

@janzinI haven't found a lot of alternatives to the New World warblers, but there are some possibilities, so I will try female Rust and Yellow Tanager (Thlypopsis ruficeps)

[janzin]

Not a Wilson's Warbler.

 

Okay, I'll ease your pain and admit it IS a warbler.  Don't want to throw everyone down an entirely wrong track.

 

The field marks, such as they are, are there, although admittedly this is one of our more confusing warblers to ID. Easier if you can hear it sing

Edited January 8, 2021 by janzin

[inyathi]

@janzinThat actually confirms my first impression, that it is a New World warbler, but I still thought it was worth trying something else, just in case, but when it comes to little yellow birds, with an insectivorous bill shape, there isn't a lot else that matches, I will now suggest immature hooded warbler (Wilsonia citrina)? As this one hasn't been mentioned yet.

[Soukous]

Orange crowned?

[janzin]

Sorry @Soukousand @inyathineither Orange-crowned nor Hooded.  But you are narrowing it down in terms of possibilities, since clearly its not one of the Blue or black and white colored warblers

 

I think I am definitely at an advantage here since none of the American birders have given it a shot. I'm afraid @offshorebirderwould get it immediately.

 

[offshorebirder]

11 hours ago, janzin said:

I'm afraid @offshorebirderwould get it immediately.

 

No danger of that since I am tired of sifting through rubbish to follow this game.

 

NTB RIP.

 

[janzin]

11 hours ago, offshorebirder said:

 

No danger of that since I am tired of sifting through rubbish to follow this game.

 

NTB RIP.

 

Wow.

 

Okay, since no one else is taking a stab at it I will add another photo of the full bird. I really didn't think this one was so hard (I also didn't think my photo was rubbish.)

 

[Soukous]

28 minutes ago, janzin said:

(I also didn't think my photo was rubbish.)

 

I don't think he was necessarily referring to your photo, more to the overall standard of submissions. 

[Galana]

On 1/8/2021 at 2:20 PM, janzin said:

Okay, I'll ease your pain and admit it IS a warbler.

Hmm. If you had not said that I would now suggest Scarlet Tanager but in view of this I will go for Bay-breasted Warbler.

[janzin]

no, not Bay-breasted either.

 

[offshorebirder]

4 hours ago, Soukous said:

I don't think he was necessarily referring to your photo, more to the overall standard of submissions. 

 

Yes - clearly@janzin's photos are not rubbish.    

 

 

[Galana]

I don't think anybody has suggested Tennessee Warbler yet so I will go for that.

[janzin]

9 minutes ago, Galana said:

I don't think anybody has suggested Tennessee Warbler yet so I will go for that.

And the prize goes to @Galana Indeed its a Tennessee Warbler. Very plain except for the line through the eye which is fairly diagnostic as none of our other yellowish warblers show that. Of course if you can hear it sing it is rather unmistakable.

 

Here's another shot of a Tennessee Warbler I took this fall.

 

 

Also its a bit unusual to see it low down as normally they are very high up in the trees. But in fall, they sometimes forage low.

 

Over to you @Galana.

[Galana]

Phew! that took some doing. I kept looking at TW but the lack of supercilium in your pics was detering me.

And of course young Sibley was not much help in colours.

Back soon with another 'rubbish photo for you to sift through.'

[Soukous]

I was using 'thewarblrguide.com', which I thought would be a big help. The illustration there does not really resemble the photos Janet posted. But then, as I've never looked at US birds I was just participating for the hell of it. Life in lockdown makes us do strange things.

[janzin]

Actually my photo looks exactly like the 1st winter illustration in Sibley.

 

[Galana]

42 minutes ago, janzin said:

Actually my photo looks exactly like the 1st winter illustration in Sibley.

Except your excellent photos show the back and head are a lovely green and Sibley's artist has them light brown. Indeed it was only the whitish undertail coverts and vent area of your 2nd shot that brought me back to Tennessee after having discarded it several times.

 

Talking of colours how about a nice monochrome for a change?

 

[inyathi]

@janzinI should have got if from your second photo, as the illustration in my book the Nat Geo Field Guide is fairly close, I guess I wasn’t trying hard enough.

 

@GalanaGiven the red eye and the absence of any visible wattle, I will suggest female Rwenzori Batis (Batis diops)?

Edited January 10, 2021 by inyathi

[Galana]

7 hours ago, inyathi said:

I will suggest female Rwenzori Batis (Batis diops)?

Getting gender specific now are we?

Correct. Off you go.

Taken at Broadbill Camp.