Warbler Guy, what about the Peterson Guide To Birds app? How is this app good for warblers? Other bird species?

Gloria, I've pasted a couple of excellent screen shots below for you to see how this amazing app features wonderful color plate drawings.

The warbler ones are equally impressive (though I did not share any here).

Plus, there's oodles of features on this app to use in the field and among your friends (if you all get it) that lead me to provide an "A" grade for this app.

Yes, I have it...and, yes, it was given to me (full disclosure!), but I'd also buy it, if necessary, at the iTunes Store.

Thumbs up from me.

To find it.....

Type in at the iTunes Store:

Peterson Birds

or

Peterson Guide To Birds

Best wishes, Daniel
danieledelstein@att.net
warblerwatch.com

Warbler Guy, I know you're into the little birds, but you seem to live near recent Blue-Footed Booby observations in Marin County, correct? Have you seen the booby at Gull Rock like I read about on Rare Bird Alerts?

Yes, Germaine (in Seattle): I have led some bird tours there recently and, indeed, here's a photo from Isaac Sanchez on 11/5/13 when I served as his guide for the day.

Every time I've been to Gull Rock, one or two immature/sub-adult Blue-footed have been present FAR AWAY.

Thus, this photo is obviously a booby, but it's from at least .5 mile away.

Hope this helps you. Regards, Daniel

danieledelstein@att.net
415-382-1827 (O)

Warbler Guy, how many Kirtland's Warbler individuals hatched this year? Do Kirtland's Warblers face extinction?

Roy, in Racine, WI, here's a "copy & paste" from a fine email newsletter published by Wayne Peterson & Paul Baicich (via: http://refugeassociation.org/news/birding-bulletin/), noting the 2013 breeding success of Kirtland's Warbler in Michigan, Wisconsin & Ontario:

(Before you read it, did you know Kirtland's Warbler has nested in Wisconsin for seven consecutive breeding seasons? More about the federally endangered Kirtland's Warbler in WI can be read at the WI DNR link provided on the last lines, below.)

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, wikipedia.com)

KIRTLAND'S WARBLER NUMBERS AT A COMFORTABLE HIGH

The numbers from the last breeding season are officially in, and Kirtland's Warblers remain near an all-time high.

The Kirtland's Warbler survey is annually conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Michigan DNR, Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Michigan Audubon Society, and numerous citizen volunteers. Kirtland's Warblers nest on the ground in central Michigan, various counties in Wisconsin, and in Ontario where they usually select nesting sites in stands of jack pine between four and 20 years old. Surveyors seek out singing males on territory to identify this species during the breeding season.

Biologists, researchers and volunteers observed 2,004 singing males in Michigan during the official 2013 nesting survey period. An additional 21 singing males were found outside Michigan, in Wisconsin (18) and in Ontario (3).

In 2012, there were 2,063 singing males counted in Michigan. These numbers are in stark contrast to those of 1974 and 1987, when only 167 singing males were found - the lowest survey numbers ever recorded.

The current revival has been so impressive that removing the species from the federal Endangered Species list is a possibility, perhaps some time in the near future.

"Two thousand pairs of birds is still a pretty low number," warned Philip Huber, a U.S. Forest Service biologist working on the project. Because Kirtland's Warblers are so uniquely adapted to a sandy-soil jack-pine habitat, they now depend heavily on human intervention for survival (e.g., cowbird removal, pine-plantings, and fire-management).

"Our success is allowing managers to work with additional partners to transition from a mode of recovery to one of long-term sustainability," said Dan Kennedy, Michigan's DNR endangered species coordinator.

For more information about this rare bird, visit the Michigan DNR's Kirtland's Warbler web page:

www.michigan.gov/dnr/1,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12202-32591--C1,00.html

For Wisconsin's Kirtland's Warbler web page:

http://www.fws.gov/Midwest/GreenBay/endangered/kiwa/index.html

Warbler Guy, have Dusky Warbler and Arctic Warbler ever been seen in California?

(above, Arctic Warbler, via wikipedia.com)

Joey (in New York, NY), at least 10 accepted California records exist for the Dusky Warbler, per the judgment of the California Bird Records Committee. The same committee has agreed that at least four past Arctic Warbler sightings are valid.

A good book to obtain for “hovering and gleaning” this information:

Rare Birds of California. 2007. Western Field Ornithologists. See: westernfieldornithologists.org

(Updates for new accepted records are online at:

http://www.californiabirds.org/ca_list.asp.....)

Warbler Guy, I think I just saw an Orange-crowned Warbler (OCWA) in my yard here in S. Carolina. Is that possible (on October 15, 2013)? Migrating warblers includes Orange-crowned to the East? Orange-crowned remain in the East during the fall-winter?

Josie, indeed, please see the map, below, given the non-breeding season range in ORANGE COLOR, below) from the Field Guide To The Warblers (Jon Dunn and Kimball Garrett, Houghton-Mifflin, 1997), it’s likely your ID was correct. (Please email me and I'll send you a PDF of the OCWA range map that shows its non-breeding season presence in the East/Southeast USA....I will upload this map soon here. My email: danieledelstein at att dot net (You need to type the @ symbol and dot, of course.))

Kudos on you.

Correct me if I’m wrong, readers, but I also have seen OCWA during even later periods (Nov. – Jan.) in the East, including MD and NY.....as it sometimes lingers (and/or overwinters?) into the late fall (and winter?) within the mid-Atlantic and lower N.E. states, based on my experience of living in the East long ago.

(Please feel free to make a “comment,” below, readers, relating to this issue...I’d appreciate feedback.)

(Map, below, via Birds of North American Online, per:

Gilbert, W. M., M. K. Sogge and C. Van Riper III. 2010. Orange-crowned Warbler (Oreothlypiscelata), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/101

doi:10.2173/bna.101)

Why are Yellow-rumped Warbler so common to see in fall migration?

Joan (in Boston):

Here's why you see Yellow-Rumped Warbler in many different habitats and, especially, en masse during a prolonged spring and autumn migration (in the Midwest and East):

1. Among the four subspecies in the Yellow-Rumped Warbler (YRWA) species, one is the Audubon subspecies (including the male Audubon YRWA seen in the above photo). 

2. YRWA exploit multiple feeding niches within the profile of the forest. That is, you are as apt to see them in the interior branches near the main trunk as you are to notice them near the ground. As a “hover and gleaner” feeder (like many Dendroica genus wood-warbler members of which the YRWA is enrolled), you can expect to see YRWA in a forest profile, but they also might be at the seashore (finding invertebrates near the surf) or, even, on grassy lawns (where insects may provide food resources). 

3. In turn, given YRWA is able to exploit multiple environments and feed on diverse food resources – from insects, to fruit (such as poison oak and poison ivy berries, in addition to privet and wax myrtle berries – the species is well-adapted to sustaining its populations in times of food scarcity. That is to say, the YRWA has a diversified portfolio – a perfect tactic to ensure that the boom and bust of food resources does not impact the species’ numbers.

4. The hydrochloric acid content within YRWA individuals appears to be more potent than the digesting apparatus contained within most other wood-warblers. In fact, the wax myrtle berries that help YRWA survive harsh conditions in winter along the mid-Atlantic are not digestible by most birds, including the 51 other wood-warbler family members typically found annually in North America north of Mexico. Given the abundance of wax myrtle, YRWA are able to survive into the deep fall (and sometimes throughout the winter) in states that often encounter harsh winter conditions: WI, MI, OH and, in the East, MD, VI, NY (and in some New England states during some winters). 

Seeing YRWA in November and December, thus, is not uncommon in the states mentioned immediately above. Increasingly warmer winter seasons, too, provide succor to YRWA that do not need to vacate northern latitudes as is the custom in the vast majority of other songbirds.

(Note: This article originally appeared at this blog in a similar form, but I receive periodic queries about this question as answered above, so I decided to post this article again, given Yellow-rumped is annually common throughout northern latitudes in late September/October.)

Sound Answer?: Can you identify the warbler singing in the background?....

.....and if you go to:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?species_nr=&query=Nuttall%27s+Woodpecker

Listen to the 2nd version of the Nuttall's Woodpecker from the top of the page*.

Which warbler is singing in between call notes of the woodpecker?

(* = The 1:01 recording is from the work of Thomas C. Graves.)

Hint: It's an early arrival in central and northern California, with migrants arriving
as early as the first week of February some years.

If you seek the answer, please email me and I'll reveal it: danieledelstein@att.net
(The subject of the answer is shown below.)

Meanwhile, I have a San Francisco bird tour soon, so I am getting ready to leave...and, hence, will do the same here. Enjoy. DE.