26 September 2024
Two species of North The united states’s fall warblers are really easy to mistake for every different that the pair has won a nickname. Meet the “baypoll.”
On Tuesday I visited Hen Lab’s Hays Woods banding station for an up-close have a look at fall migrants. That morning Nick Liadis and Shana banded magnolia warblers, Swainson’s thrushes, Tennessee warblers, ovenbirds and plenty of different species. Absolute best Birds had been the 2 pictured above, present in the similar web on the similar time: a bay-breasted warbler and a blackpoll warbler. Had been they touring in combination? Possibly. See the day prior to this’s weblog.
Those two species glance such a lot alike in autumn that birders comic story that they’ve observed a baypoll after they aren’t positive which one it’s. Baypoll = BAY-breasted / blackPOLL. eBird doesn’t settle for that designation, in fact, nevertheless it’s helpful for describing our frustration.
How are you able to inform the 2 aside?
In non-breeding plumage the bay-breasted warbler (Setophaga castanea) has daring wingbars with a depressing bar between them and ceaselessly, however no longer all the time, a faint bay (chestnut) wash on its flanks. It additionally has darkish ft and an unstreaked breast. In comparison to different warblers the bay-breasted seems lengthy and hulking, no longer petite.
Blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) are striped, striata, the place the bay-breasted isn’t. Even if the stripes are faint you’ll see them on the facets of the breast. Wingbars on blackpolls are pronounced however no longer as emphatic as at the bay-breasted. Blackpolls have a extra particular eyeline than bay-breasted, however the true clincher for a blackpoll is its yellow-orange ft! The chicken will have darkish legs nevertheless it all the time wears golden slippers. I’ve spent many irritating mins looking forward to a blackpoll to turn me its ft.
Understand the ft on each birds within the most sensible photograph, protruding above the bander’s thumb.
So subsequent time you spot a baypoll, take a look at its ft.
Should you’d like to look birds up shut throughout fall migration, seek advice from Nick Liadis’ Hen Lab website online and scroll all the way down to the record of 3 banding places — Hays Woods, Higher St. Clair and Dual Stupas in Butler County — with directions for contacting him to arrange an appointment.
Fortify Nick’s efforts with a donation at Hen Lab’s GoFundMe web site.
p.s. In breeding plumage you’ll by no means confuse a bay-breasted with a blackpoll.
