Champions of the Flyway!

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Tennessee Warblers, New England, July / Aug '25

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A couple of Tennessee Warblers from the trip so far: this first bird from my local patch close to the family homestead in Warren, Ma. - the aforementioned abandoned orchard a few minutes up the hill - from 26th July (a couple of days after we arrived). Eurasian / European birders - if you think this looks a lot like a Phyllosc (especially Willow Warbler), you'd be right...
... especially in this fresh juvenile plumage, which I'd not encountered before (they're a fairly scarce passage migrant in the area, with a breeding range substantially further north throughout Canada and south into Maine / northern New York).
Even with the (slim) possibility of an early southbound migrant on the radar, the complete lack of contrast on this bird - between the flight feathers and coverts / upperparts, and underparts in general - was an instructive surprise; try finding one that looks like this in any of the field guides, or indeed with online image searches....
Below, a more easily-identifiable bird, in the more likely location of mid-coast Maine (more specifically in the Kat and George's back garden) last week: