Was the bird singing? Could have been a young male from last year. If
I remember correctly some older females could also have black in their plumage.
Male redstarts don't attain full adult plumage until they molt after their
first year of life. Sibley shows a picture of this plumage.
Paul Woodward
Fairfax City, VA
grackling@xxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Eccles
To: VA Ornithological Society listserve
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 4:00 PM
Subject: [Va-bird] Another odd looking bird (Redstart): comments requested
I had a very strange looking bird this morning (Wakefield Park, Fairfax
County). A warbler with a white chin area (like a Myrtle Warbler) but otherwise
plain below a fairly large black crescent across the upper breast. I had seen
something like that some years ago but could not track it down. This bird was
more cooperative and I was soon able to see that, apart from the black
crescent, it was a typical female American Redstart! Some sort of hybrid? Any
comments welcome.
Stephen Eccles
PS. Otherwise a really good warbler weeked. Today: three different Wilson's,
a Northern Waterthrush, as well as several Magnolias, a Black-throated Blue
(female), a Blackburnian (female), several Chestnut-sided, several normal
Redstarts, many Parulas, and a Canada (female). Yesterday at home I had a
female Black-throated Green (a little late) and a male Tennessee (which I never
seem to see in the 'wild', but only at my garden waterfall).
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