Warbler Guy, do the new AOU bird name changes include any for North American wood-warblers?

No, Carrie (in Madison, WI), there's no wood-warbler name changes in the 53rd Supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) Check-list of North American Birds . . . butthere's some other interesting changes that birders may wish to know.

Feel free to Read All About it at:http://blog.aba.org/2012/07/new-aou-check-list-changes-2012.html

If you wish to save time and skip the study hall time, then here's the less-than-big-news highlights: 1. First, as background, it should be noted that AOU and the name changes is anannual action performed by the American Ornithologists' Union (thus, AOU) andthis year's recent action creates the 53rd Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of NorthAmerican Birds.

2. As for the name changes, they relate to a

a) split of the Xantus's Murrelet into two species;and

b) a shifting of the falcon and parrot orders to new positions on the check-list.

There's many other scientific name changes related to genera, but I won't bore you with those details, though they are present at the above web site link, if you wish to visit it.The one that I think is interesting for our NBB area — given the resident presence of our urbane House Finch and its close relative, the Purple Finch that also is a year-round resident in the NBB area — relates to how these two species(and the Cassin's Finch) are NO longer in the Carpodacus genus.....they are now separated from the Eurasian Rosefinches and these three finch species have beenplaced in the genus Haemorhous, which is name of an old finch genus.

So, if you're still following me, in a nutshell: It's hello Haemorhous and good-bye Carpodacus.

Regards, Daniel Edelstein

www.warblerwatch.com

http://warblerwatch.blogspot.com

Warbler Guy, what’s being done to help declining populations of Golden-winged Warbler?

Victor (in Chicago), one wildlife management technique currently employed to help create suitable breeding habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler (and other species that, likewise, prefer young, pioneer, second-growth vegetational habitats) originates from funding provided by such groups as The Ruffed Grouse Society, Wildlife Management Institute, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the American Bird Conservancy. 

Interested in promoting young forest management as a means to ensure the Golden-winged Warbler maintains its current breeding range in the upper Midwest, these groups have provided funds to public agencies (e.g., Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) (DNR) that have wildlife biologists that, in turn, coordinate educational workshops for landowners interested in conserving the presence of their local avifauna species (e.g., Golden-winged Warbler). 

This kind of effort goes beyond Wisconsin, as my readings tell me one or more of the aforementioned groups is also helping fund other conservation efforts and management plans that seek to preserve various bird species’ populations, such as Ruffed Grouse that also often prefer to nest in similar habitat utilized by Golden-winged Warbler. 

As for my luck in finding Golden-winged Warbler recently, a fleeting glimpse with a transient in Door County a few weeks ago is a fine memory, thanks to my friend and wildlife biologist Paul Regnier who first spotted a foraging male. 

I say “lucky” because I never consider this species to be common or abundant. Traipsing through various Wisconsin warbler-watching locations through the years has always resulted in no more than five or 10 detections of this species annually. 

A rare vagrant on the West Coast to the Pt. Reyes National Seashore area also occurs, though I’m usually tardy chasing it, thereby swinging and missing at the pitches I see on the local North Bay Birds listserv within the Marin County (SF Bay Area) location where I live (Novato, a northern Marin Co. city).  

Warbler Guy, which warbler may disperse &/or migrate by July? Which eastern warbler species is a likely West Coast vagrant?

Heather (in Seattle) one good candidate as an answer to your questions is the Tennessee Warbler (photo shown here).

In the USA's East and Midwest where this species is typically seen, its early dispersal away from natal/nesting areas is common. Many upper Midwest states have August banding records of Tennessee Warbler individuals away from their nesting grounds. 

But migration patterns may vary from one year to the next. That's because annual numbers for Tennessee Warbler often correlate with the the intensity of the summer season's spruce budworm output (that is a cyclical phenomenon in the boreal forest habitat where many breed). 

Interestingly, Heather, some females arrive on northern breeding grounds in the spring already pregnant due to mating that occurs during daytime layovers in migration. In non-breeding season habitat, Tennessee Warbler is often seen eating nectar and fruit. 

For me, the autumn in northern California where I live includes spotting an occasional Tennessee on a cloudy or foggy day amid small refuge patches of non-native Monterey Cypress within a west Marin County national park, Point Reyes National Seashore. That's because this species is one of the most typical vagrant eastern wood-warbler species to appear in the West.

(Photo by Corey Finger)

By contrast, in the spring, during my annual spring jaunt to the Midwest, I'm often sweating by noon while watching the same species in northern deciduous hardwood habitat. There, it’s a common transient through Door County, a northern Wisconsin environ that hosts 16 to 18 nesting warbler species as the farthest southern terminus expression of boreal forest in the lower 48 USA states.

Warbler Guy, where are the most different kinds of warblers found? How many types or species of warblers exist? Are all warblers migratory or do some stay “close to home”...?

New World wood-warblers (that are not closely related to the various Old World warblers in the Eastern Hemisphere (e.g., Europe, Asia) are often identified to number as 112-115 species, occurring among 24-26 genera. The centers (or “epicenters”) of their breeding areas occur in eastern North America, the West Indies, Mexico and Central America, and Andean South America. The majority of northern-latitude breeding species migrate, but many island and tropical species are sedentary. Many of these latter species remain close to their birthing areas or perform short-distance, post-breeding altitudinal/elevation migrations. As for myself, I often see 20-30 wood-warbler species during early May when I return to homecoming birding forays in the Midwest (and, concurrently, attend the annual Wisconsin Society For Ornithology conference). This year, I was lucky to visit Wisconsin again on another week-long June jaunt similar areas in Door County, but achieved merely a single digit wood-warbler total. Likewise, my birding efforts in southern Wisconsin on my recent visit provided challenging warbler conditions, with Milwaukee County nearly devoid of warbler detections, except for probable nesting species such as American Redstart, Mourning Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, and Yellow Warbler. In contrast, my n. CA residency, yields more warbler species during the breeding season — a result that surprises many people because the West is thought to host far fewer warbler species. For example, in Marin County (Bay Area) where I live, I often detect at least eight warbler species annually and, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (near Yuba Pass and/or amid the Gold Lakes country off of Highway 49 near Bassetts), I sometimes successfully sleuth out nine warbler species.

Thumb's Up: New Book "How To Become A Better Birder". . .

. . . will also help you become a better wood-warbler watcher....It's at amazon.com
and other online retailers.

(Derek Lovitch, Princeton University Press, 2012)

Answers To Recent Quizzes (on right side of page)....

.....and from top to bottom as you scroll down, here's the solutions to the quizzes (on the right side of the page):

1. In a general sense, the correct answer is "all of the above."

But any one of the three species could qualify as the latest arrival, depending on the year and where you see either Blackpoll, Conn. Warbler, or Canada Warbler in the spring.

Most important, note that typical annual returning times for songbirds (including wood-warblers such as those noted in the quiz) may vary from one year to the next. Predicting the abundance of night-time migrants has improved with the usage of radar technology, but knowing when warbler species arrive is an imprecise science.

Beyond spring arrival dates changing from one year to the next, vagaries associated with weather, wind direction (among other factors that vary from year to year during the migration season), always influence the timing of returning migrating songbirds. (To further qualify: note that Midwestern vs. East Coast wood-warbler species spring migration pathways and arrivals often vary, with fall migration offering a different set of migration and abundance dynamics for some warbler spp. in both of these areas.)

We merely know general spring returning dates that usually range from two to three weeks in length for most of the 30 to 35 long-distance warbler migrants (among the approximately 55 wood-warblers that nest in North America.

Given the above information as a general over-simplification, all the quiz birds — Blackpoll, Canada Warbler, and Connecticut Warbler — during most years are latter returning species.

In the most extreme and exceptional cases, Blackpoll and Connecticut may not return until early

June in areas where in other years they may be spotted as early as the first or second week of May (e.g., southern Wisconsin latitudes). As for Canada Warbler, it's usually not considered as late a returning migrant as Blackpoll and Connecticut Warbler, though there's always an odd spring when anomalous results occur for migration dynamics.

For example, this season, I noticed during my annual spring trek to Wisconsin that early vanguard species — such as Palm and Yellow-rumped — mixed together with latter arriving species in the migration parade — Blackpoll, Connecticut, and Canada. In fact, Blackpoll was reported in early May in Wisconsin alongside Yellow-rumped Warbler individuals. Later in the month (from May 10 - 18 when I was present in Wisconsin), I noticed the same two species together where they don't breed and were obviously transients.

So, in sum, this year's warbler migration produced an odd result, given no true early and latter migrant species conclusions could be suggested. 

2. Easy one. Yellow-rumped Warbler are one of the most typical wood-warblers to be seen in northern climes during the non-breeding season. In recent years, it's not unusual to note them on Christmas Bird Counts in upper Midwest and mid-Atlantic and/or southern New England states. Some hardy Yellow-rumped individuals may remain into January and, perhaps, throughout the winter from mid-Atlantic states west toward the Midwest.

Which other wood-warbler species might rarely to infrequently be seen in northern climes during the non-breeding season? Common Yellowthroat, Pine Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Palm Warbler are the other leading species of interest when an "odd-ball" warbler is seen upon a winter landscape. 

Does Connecticut Warbler return by late May? Is Connecticut Warbler rare?

Although Connecticut Warbler is not rare, its habit of being a stealthy, skulking, "shy" species results it in being heard more often than seen. In addition, it breeds in habitats that are often inaccessible to birders, including spruce-tamarack bogs and muskeg (as well as poplar woodlands and moist deciduous forests) in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and central Canada. Individuals return as early as early May to, for example, southern Wisconsin, but it's been known to arrive as late as early June in irregular years. In general, as returning migrant, this species is considered a "late" arriving member of the wood-warbler family. Did you know this warbler was not described until Alexander Wilson did so in 1812? A nest for this species was not discovered until 1883, more than 70 years after Wilson's description. Even today, there are few to no rigorous, experimental studies of its general biology from the breeding or wintering ranges.