Date: 5/16/25 4:45 pm From: Liam Murphy via groups.io <liammsf...> Subject: Re: [SFBirds] Bernal Hill - Another Vagrant Report
Thank you Peter. Seems that either a very rare singing female was on
Bernal, or I was correct in my initial assessment of the bird I saw that it
was an atypical Wilson's, and that Lyra's recording is of a different bird.
Another possibility is that the male Hooded Warbler found by Eddie Monson
on Bernal in December and last reported 12/6/24 either somehow evaded
detection for 5 months or left and is now stopping back over in a familiar
spot on its way north.
In any case, Bernal Hill continues to be a good place to be on spring
mornings!
Cheers,
Liam
On Fri, May 16, 2025, 4:38 PM Peter Pyle <ppyle...> wrote:
> Hi Liam-
>
> FWIW 1st fall/winter males are fully hooded like adult males and actually
> quite difficult to age. A rather rare plumage pattern in wood-warblers,
> shared only by Black-t Blue in North America.
>
> Cheers, Peter
>
> On May 16, 2025, at 15:48, Liam Murphy via groups.io <liammsf=
> <gmail.com...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi again SFBirders,
>
> This message is to report that fellow Bernal birder Lyra D'Souza recorded
> a singing HOODED WARBLER this morning on the Hill, near the "three pines"
> area on the north slope.
> 37.743753,-122.413418
>
> With Lyra's permission I am linking to her checklist which contains
> excellent audio.
> https://ebird.org/checklist/S238877543 >
> Earlier in the morning, prior to encountering the GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
> reported to the list in a separate message, I had seen a yellow-colored
> warbler in that area with a strange head pattern, dark olive crown and
> nape, and the appearance of an eyeline which I think included dark lores. I
> considered at the time that this could be an immature Hooded Warbler
> instead of the common Wilson's, and I watched for a while to try and see
> the white outer tail feathers that would be diagnostic. I never saw the
> undertail and the bird did not fan its tail, although it was quite active.
> After a minute or so of not seeing any white, I wrote it off as a weird
> Wilson's and moved on.
>
> After reading more about Hooded Warblers on Birds Of The World, it seems
> that the formative plumages are sexually dimorphic and that males typically
> show a bolder pattern than what I saw (my description is a better fit for
> the female formative plumage). The text also says that the formative
> plumage is held from summer/fall of the hatch year until summer/fall of the
> following year. Furthermore, while females have been documented singing,
> this behavior is thought to be very rare.
>
> Maybe someone on this list has additional insights into molt timing,
> plumage variability (how washed out can males be?), behavior including
> singing on migration, etc.
>
> There's enough uncertainty in my observation for me to feel most
> comfortable leaving this at "new world warbler sp." on my checklist. From
> not carrying my camera, to not attempting cell phone pics, to not asking
> Lyra to listen to her recording when we spoke in the field, I pretty much
> botched most of the best practices of identification on this bird. Lyra's
> recording, however, is a slam dunk, congrats to her on a great find. After
> receiving the recording at lunchtime, I went back up to the spot and spent
> about 45 minutes there, without success.
>
> Moral of the story, when in doubt, be a Lyra and not a Liam! Get that
> documentation by any means necessary (and don't leave your camera sitting
> on the bed at home).
>
> It's not clear whether either of these vagrants from this morning have
> remained on the Hill, but hopefully someone can catch up to one or both of
> them at first light tomorrow (from 7:30-8am the hill belongs to the dog
> walkers).
>
> Good birding,
> Liam Murphy
>
>
>
