After adding the vocalizations to the mix, the opinions have tended towards "Could it have been a juvenile White-eyed Vireo" and "are you sure it wasn't a juvenile WEVE," etc. This is the question I have been asking myself all along, and I did eventually settle on WEVE as the most likely ID. There are multiple things that are "wrong" about it (no noticeable yellow in the face pattern, the impression of long but not thick bill, etc.), but the little song-ette pushes it over the edge. SO it seems to be the worlds drabbest, most plain and poorly marked juvenile White-eyed Vireo, far drabber than the usual autumn "Brown-eyed Vireo." The thing I actually find most interesting about this bird is not its individual ID but its implications. The characters described are on paper a pretty good match for Bell's Vireo. But that little song with the slow squeaky warble was definitely more suggestive of a White-eyed than a Bell's. Plus, juvenile WEVEs are thick on the land this time of year, and Bell's would be a high-level rarity. I've always thought that an out-of-range, non-singing Bell's Vireo in autumn is essentially impossible to identify with confidence (if it's not in-the-hand), and his bird has settled the matter for me. Bill Pulliam Hohenwald TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________