Warbler Guy, what's this newborn West Coast warbler's ID?

....and the BIG hint for the nearby photo is its name begin with "Black-......"
(Remember, it's a West Coast wood-warbler species)

You can enter your answer in the "comments" section below.

Or you can vote at the nearby quiz on the right column.

Warbler Guy, what are the new warbler name changes? Do only the scientific names change and the common names remain the same?

Excellent question, Noah. (Warbler "taxonomy tree" name chart is difficult to read here, but is easier to see at the
link noted below in the final sentence.)

The honest and best answer is for you to read David Sibley’s account (David Sibley's blog = http://www.sibleyguides.com)

His summary of the warbler name changes is the best account I’ve read.

You can see it at:

http://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/06/the-new-wood-warbler-taxonomy/

Happy 4th of July...(As we celebrate, by the way, millions of wood-warbler newborns are flying for the
first time today in northern latitudes. Some (such as LA Waterthrush that nested in the mid-Atlantic) are already dispersed and migrating nearby their nesting grounds and/or south by this time and this month.

Warbler Guy: Is the Yellow-Breasted Chat still a wood-warbler? Or did it get “kicked out” of its family? Why is the chat a wood-warbler?

Yes, Earl (in Tacoma, WA): No ex-communication for the black sheep of the wood-warbler family….Per the upcoming AOU (American Ornithological Union) “check-list committee,” the Yellow-breasted Chat will remain classified as a wood-warbler in the family Parulidae. This information is courtesy of the ABA’s Paul Hess.

Mr. Hess also wrote in the ABA’s blog recently that “the annual check-list supplement to be published in July will merely point to recent mitochondrial DNA analyses indicating that the chat's genus (Icteria) represents an old (evolutionary) lineage of uncertain affinities, probably related to the Parulidae, Icteridae, or Emberizidae (families).

He concludes: “In retrospect, I suppose the status quo shouldn't be surprising.” (i.e., that the chat is NOT yet ejected from its family, given the more than two-inch size difference and larger bill size it possesses in comparison to the other 106 wood-warblers).

“After all, the (check-list) committee did not receive a formal proposal in the past year that explicitly recommended moving the chat out of the Parulidae.”

Yellow-rumped Warbler Split?: No

. . . American Ornithological Union (AOU) update:

It votes down (in 2011) splitting Yellow-Rumped Warbler into two, three or four species

(Audubon's Yellow-rumped subspecies appears in photo.)

As many of you already know, the Yellow-rumped Warbler currently occurs as four subspecies, according to many researchers: the “Myrtle” group (coronata), and the “Audubon’s” group (auduboni), “Black-fronted” (nigrifrons), and “Goldman’s” (goldmani)

The taxonomy of these Yellow-rumped Warbler subspecies was under consideration for change by a committee in the American Ornithologist Union (AOU).

(NOTE  #1: In the N.A. Birds Online account for this species, the following additional subspecies is described in the "Myrtle group":  Yellow-rumped Warbler subspecies: D. c. hooveri (McGregor, 1899). This subspecies breeds in central and s.-central Alaska, se. Alaska, Yukon Territory, Mackenzie, and nw. British Columbia; intergrades with auduboni known from Stikine River, AK (Gibson and Kessel 1997). Like nominate coronata, slightly larger, with longer wing (minimum wing length 73.5 mm in females, 75.5 mm in first-year males, and 78.0 mm in adult males); more streaked below (Alternate-plumaged males) or paler brown (females). Characters broadly clinal where range meets that of nominate coronata; for this reason, hooveri not recognized by Hubbard (1970). More recently, hooverimaintained as valid (Godfrey 1986, Gibson and Kessel 1997, R. Dickerman and P. Unitt pers. comment.

NOTE #2: The International Ornithogical Council (IOC) splits the subspecies and recognizes Audubon's and Myrtle as two species)

Now the vote is in from the AOU (from 2011).

No hanging chads here.

The vote was 7–4 against any divisions of the Yellow-rumped complex. The committee members suggested the need for further genetic analysis and determination of the extent of interbreeding in the subspecies’ contact zones where the “Myrtle” group (coronata), and the “Audubon’s” group (auduboni) mix in western Canada. The status of two other subspecies — “Black-fronted” (nigrifrons), and “Goldman’s” (goldmani) remain unchanged.

Black-fronted is a resident in Mexico, and Goldman’s occurs only in southernmost Mexico and Guatemala. Neither of these two subspecies has been observed in the American Birding Association geographical area.

Five & Counting: Wisconsin Kirtland's Warbler Nests For Fifth Consecutive Year in the State

Wisconsin Kirtland's Warbler Update *

(* = 2011 Kirtland's Warbler Nesting Success in Wisconsin; photo courtesy of Joel Trick)

Go to the following web site if you'd like to find out more about the 2011 Kirtland's Warbler nesting success for the current breeding season:

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/greenbay/

Given the amazing comeback of this federally endangered species, it's safe to suggest (with tongue firmly planted in tongue of cheek) that the Kirtland's wins the Comeback Bird of the Decade for its rebound to more than 1,800 males among the nesters occurring in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario (where in the latter place one location appears to annually host a breeding population).

For Wisconsin, the above the fold headline is already exclaimed above:
It's the FIFTH year in a row that Kirtland's has nested in the Bucky Badger state.

That's an unprecedented development for the species, which, as you may know, was thought until its discovery as a nester in Wisconsin in 2007 to ONLY
annually breed in Michigan.

There it was previously considered to be an endemic, with the entire population migrating to the Bahamas for the "winter."

Lastly:

Plenty of thanks should be extended to volunteers who monitor the federally endangered Kirtland's Warbler.

It's their efforts that continue to daily monitor the Kirtland's in Wisconsin as you read this item.....with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Joel Trick leading the crew.
Kudos to Joel Trick for helping an endangered species widen its territory as new habitat was found by Mr. & Mrs. Kirtland's arriving from the Bahamas each May (ostensbily, Jack Pine groves with an assist from Pinus cousin rubra, Red Pine, where the species is also found in WI)

Warbler Guy, which bird apps are the best ones? Are apps for birds worth their price? Is iBird Pro app better than Peterson Birds of N. America?

Good question, Harrison (in Tacoma).

I like and use a few.

My faves include (in order of preference):

1. Peterson Birds of North America, Appweavers.com ($29.99)
This one has premium features that make it easy to navigate, plus you can enter your own
sightings to create lists that provide you an ongoing journal of your birding forays. This feature alone helps personalize
it and provides an interactivity that is missing in the other apps. Plus, you can "talk" with your birding friends to compare and contrast how your day's list of bird sightings is different from theirs.

2. iBird Pro ($29.99), ibirdexplorer.com
When it's quick access you need to hear a bird sing, then this is the app you should draw from your holster.
Its simple, easy design makes it a pleasure to use, with the premium edition (this one) more pricey ($29.95)
than many bird apps, yet worth the price. Photos of a bird, its range map, information, vocalizations and more
present for more than 600 species.

3. Sibley Guide to birds of North America ($29.95), http://www.mydigitalearth.com
Featuring more than 6,600 bird images and 2,300 song files. My favorite feature is the visual representation of each succeeding age class among multiple gull drawings featured in the Laridae family area.

Warbler Guy: Do you agree that "HeadsUp Warblers" is a “Thumbs-Up” new app?

Yes, given I read review of it in the May, 2011 Birding Magazine (www.ABA.org), page 64, “HeadsUp Warblers: An App by the Makers of birdJam."

In response, I bought it for a mere $7.95 at the
iTunes store that is reached via www.apple.com)

Verdict: Nice job, birdJam folks.

Plenty of reasons to buy it, whether you're a beginner or advanced warbler-watcher.

Full disclosure: I have no economic connection with birdJam, but I do have this one self-admitted popular
wood-warbler blog site.

Populating it with info. about wood-warblers is the mission.

A similar spike in warbler fans pledging allegiance to "HeadsUp" won't be too hard for birdJam, based on its latest-greatest.

BTW:

What are my readers' thoughts on the quality of HeadsUp Warblers? Feel free to post a comment, below, so
that we'll know where you stand on this new title.

Enjoy the wood-warblers.....(If you're reading this at night in a far northern USA latittude, then millions of ww's are currently passing through your area.)