Island Beach Yellow-throated Warbler - 4/7/23

     On Friday I saw an alert on my phone of a Yellow-throated Warbler at my favorite birding location, Island Beach State Park.  Yellow-throated warblers are difficult birds to get in Ocean County and even harder to get at Island Beach.  This is a bird that I had yet to find at the state park.  Unfortunately, I did not see the alert until about an hour after it was sent.  In the past couple years, I had missed it twice when one was reported.  I happened to be at the park on each of those occasions, but at the opposite end from where the birds were, and each time they were gone when I reached their reported locations.  This time I was home and on my way to assist my daughter with moving furniture.  I figured I missed one again.

Later, while I was loading my car with furniture, I got another alert that the bird was still around.  I picked up the pace and completed my obligation.  My daughter granted me my release so I could go get the bird.  I texted my friend who had sent the last alert to see if the bird was still around.  He said he was leaving, but it was still there.  I set out for the bird.  I was about a mile from the park when I glanced over at the empty front passenger seat and realized, with all the moving, I forgot my binoculars and camera! “Noooo!” (Expletives deleted.).  I had to double back home to get them.  Due to my absent-mindedness, and the ongoing sewer line installation project at the state park, it took me another 45 minutes to get to my destination.  

It took a few minutes to walk the trail and a few more minutes searching the red cedars that make up most of the landscape, but I finally got my eyes on one of my more elusive life birds for the park.  Maybe on this try karma rewarded me for putting my dad duties ahead of my birding wishes.  Whether it was karma, luck or persistence, this yellow-throated warbler brought my bird list for Island Beach to 280 species.  I can’t relish this latest personal goal achievement for too long since spring migration is soon approaching and there is a number 281 to find.  Which bird makes the patch life list next is a mystery for now.

Yellow-throated warbler, Island Beach State Park, 4/7/2023.  ©S. Weiss
The bird pictured above has yellow lores (the spot between the baes of the bill and the eye).  It is a subspecies of the nominate yellow-throated warbler race, Setophaga dominica.  This is most likely the eastern subspecies, Setophaga dominica dominica, which breeds in the eastern part of its range, including New Jersey.  Another yellow-lored subspecies, Setophaga dominica stoddardi, has a range mostly limited to the Florida panhandle and nearby Alabama.  The white-lored subspecies, Setophaga dominica albilora, is considered the western subspecies, meaning it breeds in the western portion of its range. 

Yellow-throated warbler, Toms River, NJ, 4/15/2019.  ©S. Weiss
The bird pictured above is white-lored, making it the subspecies Setophaga dominica albilora.



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