26 September 2024
Two species of North America’s fall warblers are really easy to mistake for one another that the pair has gained a nickname. Meet the “baypoll.”
On Tuesday I visited Fowl 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 lots of different species. Finest Birds have been the 2 pictured above, present in the identical web on the similar time: a bay-breasted warbler and a blackpoll warbler. Have been they touring collectively? Perhaps. See yesterday’s weblog.
These two species look a lot alike in autumn that birders joke that they’ve seen a baypoll after they aren’t certain which one it’s. Baypoll = BAY-breasted / blackPOLL. eBird doesn’t settle for that designation, after all, nevertheless it’s helpful for describing our frustration.
How are you going to inform the 2 aside?
In non-breeding plumage the bay-breasted warbler (Setophaga castanea) has daring wingbars with a darkish bar between them and sometimes, however not at all times, a faint bay (chestnut) wash on its flanks. It additionally has darkish ft and an unstreaked breast. In comparison with different warblers the bay-breasted appears lengthy and hulking, not petite.
Blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) are striped, striata, the place the bay-breasted shouldn’t be. Even when the stripes are faint you’ll see them on the sides of the breast. Wingbars on blackpolls are pronounced however not as emphatic as on 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 could have darkish legs nevertheless it at all times wears golden slippers. I’ve spent many irritating minutes ready for a blackpoll to indicate me its ft.
Discover the ft on each birds within the high photograph, protruding above the bander’s thumb.
So subsequent time you see a baypoll, try its ft.
If you happen to’d wish to see birds up shut throughout fall migration, go to Nick Liadis’ Fowl Lab web site and scroll all the way down to the listing of three banding places — Hays Woods, Higher St. Clair and Twin Stupas in Butler County — with directions for contacting him to arrange an appointment.
Assist Nick’s efforts with a donation at Fowl Lab’s GoFundMe web site.
p.s. In breeding plumage you’ll by no means confuse a bay-breasted with a blackpoll.
