Warblers’ fall plumage means confused birders

There are a few pages in the Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds labeled “confusing fall warblers.” Under this heading are illustrations of our neotropical songbirds without their colorful and distinctive breeding plumages. Because adults undergo a molt prior to migrating south to their wintering grounds, and young haven’t acquired breeding plumage yet, they become almost unrecognizable to many birdwatchers at this time of the year.

This is then known to create “confused fall birders.” If there were such a heading in any field guide, my picture would certainly be on that page. The perplexed and exasperated look on my face would be priceless.

I know I wore that look often last weekend while visiting Baxter State Park. We had made reservations at Roaring Brook, which had always been a favorite place for me to bird-watch in spring.

Birding there at this time of year was another experience entirely, but it would have been the same anywhere.

My birding skills are a little rusty to begin with, but I have to say I had warblers in breeding plumage down pretty well. When I couldn’t spot them, I could always rely on their songs to identify them.

Warblers aren’t singing now, however.

And they don’t have their breeding plumages anymore.

And they can still hide among the foliage of trees and shrubs.

There is another complication to this mix. Because the males are no longer singing, they are even less likely to remain still, on an exposed branch, long enough to get a good look at them. Both males and females are constantly on the move, catching and eating insects to fatten up for their marathon flights south.

The best I could hope for was quick glimpses of small details. Was that a white eye-ring? Were wing bars evident? If so, what color were they? Was there any streaking on the chest?

Let’s see… a bird with a faintly streaked, dull yellow chest, olive-grey back, two white wing bars… a pine warbler? Wait a minute! The legs are a pale, pinkish-yellow color… No! It’s a blackpoll warbler! At least, I’m pretty sure it is… there’s another bird. This one has a clean, bright yellow chest, what appears at this distance to be an eye ring, and two white wing bars… a magnolia? How about a pine warbler? Wait… what color were the undertail feathers? Was there a white band on the outer tail feathers? I couldn’t see! Where is that bird now?

I could tell I was well on my way to loosing it.

Luckily, a small flock of yellow-rumped warblers restored my sanity, for they are easy to identify even at this time of year. They have a distinctive way of sallying out from a tree to catch insects in midair; that was my first clue. My second clue was their call notes, which are loud, husky “checks” or “chips.” My third clue was their plumage which, although changed, still retained faint vestiges of familiar breeding patterns. They were conspicuous and their yellow rumps were especially noticeable.

A more experienced birder would probably chuckle at my struggles. I know there are people out there who can identify a migrating songbird by a single call note as it is passing overhead in the dark of night.

But once upon a time, they, too, were “confused fall birders.”

There’s hope for the rest of us, yet.

NEWS bird columnist Chris Corio can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net