I have been birding more than 20 years, and this is kind of embarrassing. I can’t say for absolutely sure what kind of bird this is. I think it is an immature Yellow-rumped Warbler. It was traveling with Yellow-butts, in a mixed feeding flock that included Chickadees as well. I was on the Kennebunk Bridle Path, on my electric scooter, and I stopped to look for a butterfly that had flown up, when the flock came through, landing and chattering and flitting all around a small group of pines by the trail, never sitting still for more than a second. There must have been 20 birds. I got on this one and let off a burst of captures.

Unfortunately there is just not enough in the image to soundly ring the memory bells…and even some poking around in guides and on the internet has left me unsatisfied. I came down to YRW mostly by process of elimination. What is that Sherlock says? “When you have eliminated the impossible, what ever is left, however improbable, must be true.”

I think, due to general impression, and that bit of fluffy feather sticking up over the left eye, that this is an immature bird anyway…and immatures are not well illustrated or described in most guides. Not that is enough of an excuse to make me feel better. It is still embarrassing. And a good reminder of two things: 1) how little I really know, and 2) the need to pay more attention while I am taking pictures. If I had put the binos on the bird and studied its behavior, I would be much more certain of my id. 🙂

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 200. The bird was heavily backlit and if there had been time I would have adjusted the exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.