Verification of Unusual
Sight Record
For Utah
Rec. # 2007-37
| Common name: |
Palm Warbler |
| Scientific name: | Dendroica palmarum |
| Date: | October 13, 2007 |
| Time: | 4 PM MDT |
| Length of time observed: | 5 minutes |
| Number: | 1 |
| Age: | prob hatching year |
| Sex: | ? |
| Location: | Robber's Roost Canyon (4 km up from the confluence with the Dirty Devil R) |
| County: | Wayne |
| Latilong: | 17 |
| Elevation: | 1340 m |
| Distance to bird: | 10 m |
| Optical equipment: | 7 x 35 binoculars |
| Weather: | partly cloudy |
| Light Conditions: | excellent |
| Description: Size of bird: | similar to yellow-rumped warbler |
| (Description:) Basic Shape: | warbler shape |
| (Description:) Overall Pattern: | dull brown |
| (Description:) Bill Type: | warbler bill |
|
(Description:)
Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics: |
Field marks included a flash of white in the tips of the outer tail feathers in flight, a distinct supercilium, a dull brown front, back, and head (suggesting a Western bird), and yellow undertail coverts. |
| Song or call & method of delivery: | Its call was a "plick", softer than the yellow-rumped warblers with which it was associating. |
| Behavior: | The bird flushed from the ground and perched in a low tree, pumping its tail nonstop in classic palm-warbler fashion. |
| Habitat: | Weedy area with low trees and shrubs. |
| Similar
species and
how were they eliminated: |
Vermivora: Orange-crowned warbler (first winter): has yellow undertail coverts and slightly pale supercilium, but no white in tail and does not pump tail constantly. Call note is sharper. Virginia's and Nashville warblers: have yellow undertail coverts but slight eye ring instead of pale supercilium and no white in tail. Yellow warbler:
undertail coverts yellow, but clean head with no pale supercilium. |
| Previous
experience with this & similar species: |
I am quite familiar with palm warblers from having lived in the eastern US including Florida, where they are common winter birds. I have birded in Utah for 30 years. |
| References consulted: | Sibley, D. A., "Guide to Birds" |
| Description from: | Notes made later |
| Observer: | Carleton DeTar |
| Observer's address: | 953 Little Valley Rd, Salt Lake City, UT |
| Observer's e-mail address: | detar@physics.utah.edu |
| Other observers who independently identified this bird: | None |
| Date prepared: | October 28, 2007 |
| Additional material: | |
| Additional Comments: |