Tropical Audubon Society

South Florida’s Voice of Conservation

On our TAS walk in Cape Florida (9/27), we had the good fortune to see an interesting warbler just banded by Cape Florida Banding Station. The warbler's ID is still being discussed! Photos were shared with several very experienced academic and field birders but so far, opinions haven't all agreed. Photos will go out to other experienced bird folk later this month. As we sometimes experience in birding, this may just be an unknown!

The bird is definitely a Geothlypis warbler and the choices are MacGillivray's or Mourning. (The possibility of this bird being from the overlap zone east of the Rockies, and therefore a hybrid, hasn't gotten any traction so far.) The bird is a hatching year bird and an important measurement is borderline between the two species. The eye ring structure and soft yellow in the loral area points to Mourning Warbler but the shorter undertail coverts and longer tail point toward MacGillivray's.

Thanks to Julie and Mario for the photos.