Cape-may Warbler

(Photo by J. Lambert)

Above is a bird that may seem confusing to many birders.  But it is in fact a drab drab drab female Cape May Warbler, and served as life bird for me.  How on earth do you pick this out you may ask? (or may not ask if you have your Sibley memorized!)  

Here are the things that stood out to me:

1. Sharp, decurved, dark bill.  

2. Greenish-yellowish Rump

3.  The sides of the neck are rather pale

4.  The bit of yellow on the face

5. Overall a gray-ish blurry streaked bird.  Finer streaking would point elsewhere where as the blurry streaking really forces the issue here.  

Sibley depicts this although the bird drawn has more drasticly edged coverts.  Studying birds like this is important so that if you stumble on a drab bird you still know what to look for and what you're looking at!

While I did not post this bird in this mechanism I'm going to attempt to start to post confusing quiz birds so we can all learn a bit about different plumages and things to note.  I bet you can't wait for Fall Warblers!

LK