Yellow-rumped Warbler being split again

It's goodbye Yellow-rumped Warbler, welcome back Myrtle Warbler and Audubon's Warbler (and Black-fronted Warbler and Goldman's Warbler in Mexico)

So some familiar names back for old-timers, but identification gets a little trickier ;-)

Details here: http://www.worldbirdnames.org/documents/TheYellow-rumpedWarblerspeciesgroup.html

Resin

(public domain Myrtle Warbler pic from USFWS)

Oh yea! :-(

Good Grief!

I'll have to see if I can identify all the pics in BirdFiles . . . may need to come back to one or two photographers for more details.

And what to do with photos of juveniles, which don't appear to be identifiable?

Resin

Field guide publishers have to love this. Many birders will now rush out to buy updated versions. Not me. I just made a note in the trusty old Peterson guide I've been carrying in my hip pocket since 1980.

So just what are the differences exactly? Since I have only been into birding 3 years I am not that familiar with this. I have seen the terms Myrtle & Audubon's used here on Dave's.

Resin, when do you expect these changes to "officially" occur ?

I will be scratching out the word "forms" and make a note that they are now different species in my field guide.
Kaufman Field guide to North American Birds, for the Yellow-rumped Warblers. I will not see an Audobon's anyways unless someone posts one.

Adult males are fairly easy; Myrtle has a white throat, Audubon's has a yellow throat.

In adults of both sexes, Myrtle has a fine white or pale line going over the eye, Audubon's doesn't.

In first-winter immatures, the white line is not always present in Myrtles; with these, which are very hard to tell, the pale throat is wider in Myrtle than in Audubon's.

Fresh juveniles (up to 3-4 months old) don't appear to be distinguishable. But they're unlikely to be found outside of their respective breeding ranges.

In southern Arizona (and NW Mexico), adult male Black-fronted Warbler can be distinguished from Audubon's by being blacker, rather than dark grey, on its back. Can't find out any details on distinguishing females and immatures.



Depends on what you mean by 'official'! As the link above notes, the IOC (International Onithological Congress) has already accepted it; when other groups (AOU, etc.) do so, you'll need to keep a watch on birding news headlines. BirdFiles . . . as soon as I can get round to it!

Resin

Thanks Resin for the information.

Forgot to mention, adult Audubon's also has more extensive white on its wing than Myrtle; Myrtle has just two narrow white wingbars, whereas Audubon's also has some white between the two bars.

Resin

Updated the BirdFiles now!

Myrtle Warbler: http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/72/

Audubon's Warbler: http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/2895/

Black-fronted Warbler: http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/2896/

Goldman's Warbler: http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/2897/

So far we have just one photo of an Audubon's Warbler (compared to 15 of Myrtle Warbler), if anyone has more, please add them! Anyone got a pic of Black-fronted Warbler from southern Arizona?

Resin

I came across this really great website that has lots of photos of birds, including YRWs, in their different phases. I hope you like it:

http://www.migrationresearch.org/mbo/id/idlibrary.html

I just added a couple Audubon's.

Excellent thanks!

Resin

Nice shots of the Audobon's Warbler Tiger!!

Does this mean we can't call them butter butts any more?

I guess not since we would then have to specify which butter butt we're talking about. :-)

So...I have Myrtle butter butts...

I like that!

:-) Thats what I have so far.