{"id":2422,"date":"2016-04-26T14:10:49","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T14:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/?p=2422"},"modified":"2018-03-09T13:46:06","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T13:46:06","slug":"palm-warbler-id-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/?p=2422","title":{"rendered":"Palm Warbler subspecies ID note"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By the third week of April, it is possible that both migrant Western (<em>palmarum<\/em>) and migrant Yellow\u00a0(<em>hypochrysea<\/em>)\u00a0 Palm Warblers may be encountered throughout eastern Ontario. The &#8216;situation&#8217; here in Ottawa is unique in that we host a breeding population of Yellow\u00a0(<em>hypochrysea<\/em>) birds at Mer Bleue and Alfred Bog.<!--more--> I believe these easterners represent this particular subspecies&#8217; westernmost residence in Ontario, but I am not certain, and I&#8217;m too busy at the moment to scrounge around for material! \ud83d\ude09 In any case, what this <em>may <\/em>mean is that eastern Ontario birders, esp. those in the Ottawa area,\u00a0may at some point come face-to-face with a putative Western\/Yellow intergrade that is not safely assignable to either subspecies. In the east, the genetic delineation between subspecies groups is <em>not <\/em>often the case; more often than not, one particular subspecies <em>grades <\/em>into the other throughout a geographical area of introgression and it is from this subspecific &#8216;grey area&#8217; that slightly confusing individuals sprout.<\/p>\n<p>When looking to identify a Palm Warbler to subspecies (often they prod around out in the open, availing requisite prolonged views) keep a few things in mind.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Time of day (on a sunny day): a bird foraging in early morning\/late afternoon looks more vibrant in tone, especially throughout the head and upperparts, and brighter and more yellowish below thanks to the warm, reddish glow of early morning\/late afternoon sunlight. A Western with a light yellowish blush to its belly really &#8216;lights up&#8217; when the low-plane sun horizontally casts\u00a0its reddish glow (see Figure 1 below).<\/li>\n<li>A Yellow (<em>hypochrysea<\/em>) Palm is a rare treat in Ontario and requires careful attention to several key ID features. Keep note of the <strong>upperparts<\/strong>: they should be rich in tone with a slight greenish cast (this greenish cast can also be seen throughout the head and nape); the <strong>streaking<\/strong> to the underparts is also of note: look for broad, slightly coalesced <em>chestnut-toned <\/em>streaking to the sides of the breast and down the sides of the body (they are brownish and crisp in Western birds); the <strong>yellow<\/strong> to the underparts is consistent in depth throughout the entire span of underbody, from the throat through to the undertail (a pale, whitish-yellow undercarriage offsets the yellow of the throat and undertail in Western) ; if given close views or when reviewing photographic material, the <strong>eye arcs <\/strong>of Yellow birds are washed with yellow (they are typically whitish in Western).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/palm.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2423 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/palm-222x300.png\" alt=\"palm\" width=\"222\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/palm-222x300.png 222w, https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/palm.png 503w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>: An eastern-like Western Palm Warbler. This bird shape-shifted in and out of designated subspecies camps (well, it appeared to creep <em>close\u00a0<\/em>to the Eastern camp when the light hit it ) late in the afternoon at the Richmond Sewage Lagoons on 3 May 2015. Note here how, when shadowed, the light yellow suffusion to the underside is less apparent (top) and quite evident (bottom) when the sun casts its warm glow.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Palm-Warbler_Mer-Bleu_04252013_912.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2449 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Palm-Warbler_Mer-Bleu_04252013_912-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Palm Warbler_Mer Bleu_04252013_912\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Palm-Warbler_Mer-Bleu_04252013_912-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Palm-Warbler_Mer-Bleu_04252013_912-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Palm-Warbler_Mer-Bleu_04252013_912-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Palm-Warbler_Mer-Bleu_04252013_912.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>: A classic Yellow\u00a0(<em>hypochrysea<\/em>) Palm Warbler. Note here the greenish cast to the upperparts; and the thick, indistinct chestnut-toned streaks underlain by a deep-yellow underside. Mer Bleue, Ottawa, Ontario. 25 April 2013. Don Wigle.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thank you to Don Wigle for allowing me to showcase his beautiful photo of an Eastern Palm.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dunn, J. and K. Garrett. 1997. <em>A Field Guide to the Warblers of North America. <\/em>Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By the third week of April, it is possible that both migrant Western (palmarum) and migrant Yellow\u00a0(hypochrysea)\u00a0 Palm Warblers may be encountered throughout eastern Ontario. The &#8216;situation&#8217; here in Ottawa is unique in that we host a breeding population of Yellow\u00a0(hypochrysea) birds at Mer Bleue and Alfred Bog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2422"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8488,"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422\/revisions\/8488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eontbird.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}