Va birders,
Does anyone have any experience with the Appalachian sub species of
the Black-throated Blue Warbler? I ask because there was one hanging
around my mulch pile for about an hour on Friday and as I was watching
it I noticed that it had some rather faint black streaking on its
back. In Sibley's it says that this means that this bird is of the
Appalachian sub species, the problem in my bird is that its streaks
are much more faint than those illustrated in the field guide. On the
Sibley Guide website http://www.sibleyguides.com/about/the-sibley-guide-to-birds/subspecies-names-in-the-sibley-guide-to-birds/
he says that the two subspecies seem to overlap; in which case I
would guess that my bird is some sort of backcross or hybrid between
the two subspecies (since the streaking on the back isn't as prevalent
as in the book). What are other ways to distinguish these subspecies
(if any). Do immature males of the northern race show any black
striping on the back as part of their normal plumage?
Here's a link to my pictures of the bird. If you think more pictures
would help, I have more that I could download to the site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32293993@N04/6235867427/in/photostream
All the best,
Nick Newberry
