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All:
I’m not too worried about the fairly strong ear patch on the Halifax warbler.
This seems routine in Juvenal and first-winter plumage. There seems to be no
tell-tale yellow on the breast below the nascent bib that would signify
Townsend’s influence. The back is said to have an olive cast and have broken
black arring and the breast is said to be a “slight buff tinge to the
underparts on first-winter male Hermits (Dunn & Garrett). The bib’s a little
washed out, but can be so. The limited streaking on the sides is found on some
Hermits – I think some photos (Richard Stern's on his site and Dave Currie’s on
the NS-RBA photo site), show on the posterior flanks, diffuse feather tracts of
somewhat fluffed out plumage that appear like broad streaks, but may not be,
while others show fine marks or none on tighter plumage. Such streaking can
occur on "pure" Hermit. Its status is difficult to assess from the definitive
paper on this frequent hybrid, which you can access at:
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v115n02/p0284-p0310.pdf
However, my casual application of their criteria (their Table 1) puts it in the
Hermit, rather than hybrid category. We'll try to get experts to weigh in.
You can find a number of interesting images on the web, including the following
showing good strong ear patches on young birds.
California 9 May
http://flickr.com/photos/7322586@N06/418747567
A juvenile female California August
http://flickr.com/photos/lakeladyjeanne/1237162949/
First fall female Calif.?
http://flickr.com/photos/phil_eager/348627809/
Also, there is a lengthy discussion of a bird in NY in fall 1992 that has some
features in common with ours. But, note the strong yellowish on the breast
below the bib. That would be a clincher. The NY Bird Records Committee decided
that a Hermit X Townsend’s hybrid “could not be excluded.”
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/hermit_warbler.htm
So, put on your thinking caps.
Cheers, Ian
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