VA Birders,
On 7/5/05 I saw an adult male Blue-winged Warbler feeding two fledglings at the
edge of my yard. The young were foraging down in thick vines, Virgin's Bower
(Clematis virginana). After watching for a few minutes I got a glimpse of one
of the youngsters and realized that these were Blue-winged Golden-winged
hybrids. Over a period of about 45 minutes I took several photos of the three
birds in spite of the thick cover. By inching my way close and standing very
still I got close-up looks. Sometimes the birds fed within 3 or 4 feet of me.
In fact sometimes they were too close for the camera to focus.
After looking at the photos I believe that one of the fledglings is a 1st
generation male Brewster's Warbler, even though it doesn't match the field
guide drawings exactly.
I am attributing this to the fact that this bird is a juvenile and may change
into adult plumage later This bird has a completely yellow breast, which is not
indicative of an adult Brewster's, but does have white from the legs back to
the undertail coverts. It also has the gray back with wing-bars and a gray face
with a thin black eye stripe and a yellow crown. The second fledgling I think
is a female Brewster's. She has much more yellow than her sibling and is
completely yellow on the chest and belly, however she does have an auricular
patch of gray and the typical Blue-wing eye stripe. Her crown and back is a
much darker yellowish-green with less gray than her sibling.
Take a look at the 4 pages of photos (2 or 3 photos to a page). If someone has
a different opinion as to which hybrid these birds are, I would be open to
hearing it.
http://users.mikrotec.com/mayhorn/BIMG/HybridWarb/BrewsWarbP1.htm
Enjoy the birds,
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
Buchanan County
