Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Passeriformes; Wood warblers
The male which is now before me may be described as follows:--Top and
sides of head and fore part of back faded hair brown with a trace of
ashy on the middle of crown; remainder of upper parts dull olive green;
wings and tail (which are fully grown) as in the first winter plumage
excepting that the greater and middle wing-coverts are rather more
broadly tipped with light brown, forming two well-marked wing-bars;
chin and throat brownish white tinged with yellow; sides of jugulum
smoke gray, its center yellowish; sides of breast gamboge yellow shading
into olive on the flanks; middle of breast, with most of abdomen,
yellowish white; under tail-coverts ashy white. All the feathers on the
under parts which are strongly yellow or olive, and those on the upper
parts which are decidedly ashy or greenish, appear to belong to the
autumnal plumage or, as it is now called, the first winter plumage, but
all the other feathers on the head and body are evidently those of the
first plumage. * * *
I have not seen the young female Bachman's Warbler above referred to,
but Mr. Wayne writes me that "It differs from the male only in these
respects: The yellow on the sides of the breast is very much paler and
more restricted and the back is not greenish, but brownish. The white on
the tail-feathers is merely indicated on the margins of the inner webs
of the tail-feathers."
It would appear from the above that there is a sexual difference even in
the juvenal plumage, and that the postjuvenal molt begins before the
middle of May. This molt evidently involves all the contour plumage and
the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings or the tail. The young
male in first winter plumage is similar to the adult male at that
season, but the crown is entirely gray, or with very little black; the
feathers of the black patch on the throat, which is more restricted, are
tipped with yellowish or buffy. There are no specimens available that
indicate a prenuptial molt, which is probably very limited. Young males
in the first nuptial plumage may be recognized by the worn and faded
wings and tail.
The complete postnuptial molt of adults apparently occurs in July or
earlier; I have seen no molting birds, but a large series of August
birds are all in completely fresh winter plumage. In this plumage the
male resembles the spring male, but the black of the crown is widely
tipped with gray and the black of the breast is narrowly tipped with
yellowish; these tips largely wear away before spring, although Wayne
(1910) says that his "breeding males all show the olive yellow edging on
the black feathers." Similar molts and changes take place in the female,
but she has no black in the crown and much less or none at all on the
breast; her colors are duller and she has less white in the tail, as
well as olive-green, instead of yellow, lesser wing coverts.
For a full description of individual variations in plumage, the reader
is referred to Mr. Brewster's (1891) excellent paper.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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