[SBB] sex of Black-and-white Warbler

[[[email protected]] (Mike Rogers)]

All,

When the Black-and-white Warbler was found on Sunday it was reported as a hatching-year male based on the very contrasty flank streaks. However, a number of observers have reported the bird as a female today. Studying the photographs I took today, the bird's auriculars are already mostly black, confirming that it is indeed a male. The extensive white chin and throat suggest a hatching-year male, as initially supposed, although according to Dunn and Garrett's Warbler guide some adult males can "completely lack black" (but Pyle's banding guide does not mention this). Today's bird does have a hint of some black flecks appearing in malar streaks on either side of the throat, probably typical of a young male at this time of year.

Rectrix shape is hard to assess from the photos, but what is visible seems more consistent with the pointed shape associated with hatching-year birds, rather than with the truncate shape of adults.

Mike Rogers
Sunnyvale

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