According to Melissa and Doug this shape sorter to is meant for the ages of 2 and up.  If you don't know what they are, you either have (a) No kids , (b) No grandkids, (c) No nephews and nieces or (d) Never babysat any kid in your entire life. I think that covers it. Realistically, being 2 isn't that difficult except anytime you cry or whine, someone tags on the fact that you are going thru the terrible 2's. That age is stuck with that label. Kind of like a man going thru a mid-life crisis. Anytime a man around 35-45 rebels in any way, they are going thru a mid-life crisis. Why is it that women never go thru a mid-life crisis? Perhaps because they are involved in that process their entire life (I have been married a few times so am a bit jaded here in this aspect of it all). ...... 

Anyhow....this shape sorter isn't that difficult for most adults although I have seen older kids (near 10) in third world countries who couldn't do this shape sorter. But for the most part here in America, or at least with my own kids and grandkids, I feel that 2 is an age where it might be a challenge, ...they might cry a bit, but eventually they will succeed. Sometimes guidance is needed and additional encouragement. By the time they are three, they master this. Their cognitive ability has kicked in.

Cognitive ability is funny. Being an educator for 35 years, I know a few things about this skill. Cognitive ability can be defined anywhere from 'shape sorting' to geometry and beyond, but it really depends on the concept and age. Obviously there is a difference between a shape sorter and geometry but the same concept of cognitve thinking applies, but the age level differs. 

So.....given that extensive background information, let's move to birds. In my backyard I have this box nest which we purchased for birds. I think this is going on 3 years for this nest and in all cases 'wrens' have occupied the nest. They like it. They are not particularly good at paying their rent, but they do provide intrinsic rewards such as watching them, listening to their song...observing the young grow thru the month etc....

Yet, here I was today thinking of the nest and that dang shape sorter. As I watched a wren bring in a twig, it was obvious that the twig was a bit larger then the hole. But that 'larger' aspect only applied if the twig was attempted to be added to the nest, from 'long way into small circle. It ain't fitting little bird. Turn it...no, the other way....okay, close but too much of a turn. Now see if you can get the tip of the twig into the hole first and just walk on it with it. All right...you did it. Now, go out and find another. 

This continued for 3-4 twigs as I just observed. I find myself keen at observing. I love observing people in parking lots, animals or birds etc... For they offer a comedic relief to life at times. Heavens...we all need that given Trump.

But each time the twig was brought to the nest, it was 'wiiiddddeeee'.... Real wide. Wider than the hole. Each time though, the wren used some cognitive skill to maneuver the twig so the tip went in first. It essentially placed the round peg in the round hole, as opposed to square end into the round hole. How does it know how to do this cognitive function? 

I know from my own kids...and my four grandkids....that this shape sorter is not easy. I can attest that yes, it is around the age of 2 that this occurs. So by my own observance I can see that this wren....a wren of all things....has equal or more cognitive ability at this tender age of 2-3 than a human creature has. I googled breeding/mating of house wrens and while I found not a lot of information, I did find that the Bluebird reaches maturity to breed at around 9 months. Given that a wren has a life span of at most....at most...7 years, it makes sense that they would be breeding around the same time of the Bluebird (9 Months).

But you see, this is where the problem is. If a bird can breed and I am thinking they can create a nest before they are even one year old, they are beyond the capacity of a human to solve the 'shape sorter'. A human,...which has the capacity to use a 'thumb'...to think and ponder and reflect ahead, can plan....can can can can can....etc.. and more can's.... Yet at a young age the tiny bird that some poet must have written about, is actually cognitively superior to that of the human. 

Amazing.....animals of all species and kinds amaze me. We naturally think of ourselves as being the king of the jungle and yet the shape sorter puzzle proves we are 'king' only because we live longer.

It makes me wonder, if a wren had a life span of human, where would we be as a civilization? Well, it is obvious that the idiot we have for president, wouldn't have been elected. 

Just today I was birding with my friend Steve in New Orleans and while we had no car, we birded a local spot that was a bit captivating.....This was a rather large lake and like in all areas of Louisiana, it contains sections of water.

So in this one particular section we started off with some nice locals such as the Mississippi Kite and tossed in various herons and egrets. We walked around for a few hours and then decided to be 'old men' ....act like old men are, and just sit on the park bench and watch the world go by. But not so much the world but more facing the water and allowing the birds to come to us. You see, we already had in our 10,000 steps by this time, so 'park em here' and watch.

Old men talk....yes, we do. As we sat there we watched one white Domestic Duck chase off a pair of mallards. He would chase them both, then peal off for the female until she flew, then chased the male. They would land 20 yards down the lake and again, he would do the same. This carried on until he chased them off the lake inwards to dry land.

Then a Canada goose......Lazy...peaceful. Canada geese seem to have it made in the sun. All of sudden though Steve looked up and wondered, 'hey, what type of goose is that".... Being we only had one pair of bins with us, I grabbed them from Steve and attempted to ID but couldn't. It was a goose but...what type? In my eyesight, the Canada jumped on top of the other 'unknown' and the unknown went under water. Far under water.....  it appeared about 10 yards away and immediately the chase was up again. A day for chasers. But after all, this is New Orleans and what day is not a good day without some sort of 'chaser' to wash it all down with.

So this 'unknown'.....headed 'that-a way'....the Canada met up with two more of its kind and chased the unknown out of the immediate premises. Gone...done. No more...Except in the minds of us humans.

What type of Goose was that? We looked it up and eventually concluded it was a GreyLag Goose and it appears to be pretty much Europe and Asia. You got to be kidding me....     But yes, that is what it appeared to be as this unknown goose found itself to New Orleans for a chase. The more we 'googled' the more we found that it is either  a vagrant GreyLag Goose or some local gray domesticated Goose. According to eBird, it is labeled officially as a Greylag Domestic. Now, what is a DOMESTIC? 

That let us to do more pondering. A domestic is like a domestic duck and one that lives on a farm or the like. This Graylag was not domesticated and obviously came from someplace. It just happened to be here in NOLA. So who or why is it labeled domesticated. If anything it should be a feral Graylag goose since it isn't domestic. What is domestic? It is homebound. This Graylag was not homebound for it was out in the wild. A Feral Goose? What is that? A feral is a domestic that has been let out and is now living in the wild. When does a Feral turn 'wild?" How long does it have to be feral or better yet, how many generations of a particular bird do they have to have before it turns from Feral to Wild?

For instance....a feral pigeon? Now, I have been birding for how many years and how many generations of feral pigeons have come in gone in that timeframe? And yet, they are still labeled 'feral?' When, after countless generations does this bird officially become 'wild?"

So given that, I suppose that poor Graylag Domestic has little chance of moving from being categorized from Domestic to Feral to Wild. Forever Domesticate.

Do you remember last year at this time? ....Well I do for I keep a bird journal which connects me from year to year.... I know what was done, where I did it, what I saw, and the weather. Keep a journal as it will 'ground you'. Only this morning Deb and I were talking about how we want to be less 'connected' to the Internet and more grounded to humanity, so....give it a try. Go to Bam (not online for that defeats the purpose) and grab yourself a fairly open paged journal. Then, each time you bird, record it. Get away from the Internet people and become un-connected. I implore you man, I beg of you. Become HUMAN once more. 

Now...last year as I look at the scribbled words dating April 7th of 2018. A Saturday and our first bird walk of the season. I have writing and I quote "40's, cloudy, a bit windy, very cold--frozen fingers, a bit of rain. 

Ouch..... I remember that day. Not fun. So what will this first boardwalk bring us? I don't want to have anything worse than a cloudy day, as Simon and Garfunkel sand. A cloudy day is doable. But a day like last year? No way.

Last year was a year where we had no spring and winter and cold just lagged on like a chain around a convict. Couldn't shake it as we rattled around in our houses biting to get out and enjoy some sun. But April 7th of last year gave us no sun....none. I was there, I remember, I froze.

The birds from last year were as follows: 71 species total. Now given the day, that wasn't bad. What were the highlights (as written in my journal):

• A beautiful view of a northern flicker in flight
• One Bald Eagle
• An American Bitterer as we walked on the road to Gull Pond
• One Large Caspian Tern
• 3-4 Ospreys
• a flock of Ibis
• Yellow Rumped Warblers--only Warblers we saw that day
• 5-6 Green Winged teals
• Tri-Colored Heron In FLIGHT
• 2 Purple Martins on top of visitor center

So not going to say it was overly eventful but, but...but....it was 'us' brave souls who weathered the weather. That alone is worth it, Bird Camaraderie at it's finest. The Atlantic Audubon Society. Join us this April 6th

Wow...I look over my listing of Blogs for the past few months and I am thinking to myself, ...what happened? Was I on this planet? Did an alien capture me and analyze my brain and collect data to  take back to Planet X? Too much 'Oak Island and the search for treasure I was involved in or perhaps seeking gold in "Gold Rush' or ....? 

Actually more benign and family stuff.... sometimes people replace birds. My mom turned 100, 4 grandkids turned quite a bit less than that....a daughter moving to Australia and about 2-3 months dealing with Septic Field issues at our cabin in the Pinelands....

Hence, no blog... But...do you know that bird walks at Forsythe are just around the corner? Migration I am guessing will be early this year so wow, a good time to bird, then blog...... 

Now.....remember that game? Listen to it and 'relive' it once more. Did you ever make it to the front and if so, what feeling did you get? You won, you were in charge, you had the fun of sending others 'back to the start'..... Life was simple, eh? 

Well....life gets complicated but for some animals the skills learned in Red Light Green Light will keep you alive. It isn't a matter of just winning, it is a matter of living.

The other day looking out my window where my feeders are I saw the usual cast. Gold Finches, Juncos, a sparrow or two, a Blue Jay etc... a chaotic mass as they took after my bird food. Yet, all of a sudden.....there was no suddenness to it, but only stillness. Out of the corner of my eye, and in that quick of a time between the chaotic movement and 'stillness', a neighborhood Coopers made it's way to a tree. Now, this tree was rather far away and from what I could tell, it was hidden from all bird eyes. And yet, the  birds suddenly became still.

No movement.....not a flick of the feather or a tic or a scatter for safety...nada. Nothing.... just stillness. The Coopers in the tree, the birds on the ground and in the feeders. The Coopers' moved and craned his neck and turned and viewed but the birds did absolutely nothing. They stayed in place, just like in Red Light, Green Light..... 

The amazing thing is that they stayed 'in place....with no movement what-so-ever' for 20 minutes. Yes man, you heard me right...20 minutes. No movement. After 20 minutes the Cooper's left the coop, sort of speaking....and immediately upon the retreat, the birds became alive once more. But they just continued doing what they were doing before. Some clawed the earth, some pecked the seed, some just scratched around etc. It was like the previous 20 minutes they were in this trance and once out of the trance, they moved on with life. Simply amazing...amazing...

I was doing some reading up on this and I can't find any thing that states that birds have a 'sense' for danger, although I know they must as we all know they do, but nothing on the actual 'sense' itself. They have excellent eye-sight but how did they view the Coop's thru the trees? Some of these birds were behind or underneath other trees and yet somehow they got the message that a predator was in the vicinity. How? .... How do they know? What sense do they have that 'we lack'... Or perhaps we do have that sense but thru the years and decades and centuries, we have lost that as an active sense? It is still there as to a degree we can sense 'danger' but not to the degree that birds have it. Right? ....makes you wonder eh?

The Cooper's was playing Red Light Green Light and no one was caught...they all became winners, which means of course that the Coopers' had to go back to the beginning of the line while the passerines all called out Red Light Green Light. Oh...where did the 'yellow light' come from? I don't remember that as being part of the game..... 

See below....actual footage (not doctored)....but real archived footage of event as it occurred. :-) 

tLast week I was at Forsythe....I believe a Saturday it was or Sunday, not sure but really doesn't matter. Time escapes.

Often times the best birding at Forsythe is on the 'way to Gull Tower'....Now my daily sage;  Get out of the car and walk. While the car might be a shield against those green flies,  there aren't any now, so get out of the car and walk.  Work your eyes, look for movement...scan the skies and yes, look for blobs on branches that might otherwise go un-noticed. While a few cars skipped on by, I happened to see one of those blobs. 

It was a small hawk..... sitting on a dead tree and facing me. It was in that dead patch of trees damaged by Hurricane Sandy, right as you begin the Gull Drive length. How lucky was me. I 'returned to the car' and pulled out the scope, set up the legs and viola, a perfect image of a hawk. Did I mention that cars were skipping on by? 

Now I wanted to ID this hawk so I mentally checked off from my list. But one amazing thing that graced me was the hawk was fanning its' tail like a peacock but only 'down'. But the bars were jagged. Hmmm.... I pulled out my Kaufman ( in the field I prefer a Kaufmann for my Sibley is too big to fit in any pocket I have) and flipped to pages 125 or abouts. Not the Sharpie, nor the Cooper...But let's see, it has a nice white eyebrow. Could it be a Goshawk? Jagged barring on tail, grey overall on back, eyebrow....Could it? But it looks too small. 

Hmmm...a volunteer from the Center came meandering by and we looked at it. He suggested a Peregrine since it had a bit of a facial marking. Nah...I didn't agree...but maybe a juvenile Goshawk. That might explain the lesser overall size.  

Then a lady, this time from California came wandering by a few minutes later and we began to look it over. Again ,cars skipping on by. See?...if you are in a car you miss things. She agreed, no Peregrine, no Sharpie, no Coopers. But she too brought up the size as too small for a Goshawk although other characteristics fit.

A Merlin? .... hmmm..Page 126. yes, a smaller facial marking, an eye brow, and perhaps jagged barring in underside of tail as well and gray on back. But only 10". Too small especially when compared to the Blue Jay floating around it which is closer to 11" and this bird seemed larger than the jay. So maybe a juvenile Goshawk still not grown to full size?  Not sure, but the Merlin is too small. Sounds like Goldilocks. 

What is the perfect fit here? ...wait. wait...we finally arrived at a yet unobserved feature. While the bird had moved back aways so the spreading of the tail was no longer a factor to observe,  the scope provided a good shot of the eye...yes the eye.....the eye. Aye Aye man...the eye. It was black, not colored.... And that fits the Merlin. Both birds shared much the same characteristics with exception of size and eye color, especially if you consider the juvenile aspect of the Goshawk. The Merlin it was...and it made sense since this is migratory time for them and they are here in numbers. The eye color was the kicker.... . So an 'enlarged version of a Merlin'....that was how we left it. 

I moved on and walked the remainder of Gull Pond Road...while cars skipped by me. 

Way back in 1976 I was in college and while I was beyond Big Bird, ....(little did I know that I would have daughters of my own who loved that bird!) , I was into Mark 'The Bird" Fidrych who was a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. As a kid myself, the Tigers were my baseball team as we lived in the NW and Seattle didn't have a baseball team until 1977. Fidrych was an unusual character as he would 'talk to the ball', get on his knees and smooth the ground of the mound, and he actually resembled Big Bird of Sesame Street. That is where the nickname came from.  So.....I guess this is where my love with birds first happened, right? Sure I remember my mom telling me about Robins as they returned in the spring, but not until as an adult did I really start to enjoy the beauty of nature..... The Sierra Club, Audubon Society, Green Peace etc. 

The other day I was out birding, ...and really, does it matter where? You see I travel the country, just because.....and I bird  wherever I am (Have binoculars, will travel). Well here I was in a place called Santa Gertrudis Lane and ran cross some expert birders. These three guys put me to shame but I never think of myself as anything but an average birder who just happens to stumble upon them. But there are some birds that I take a liking to, for they provide me with the presence of a 'home', wherever I might be in this glorious country. Juncos..... Chickadees and a Yellow Warbler; my rendition of Big Bird.

When I see any of these birds, I know I am home. On this trip to SE Arizona there were no Junco's or Chickadees but only my old familiar catch of pure yellow nestled into the shades of green.  There we were, together. And it was at this moment for of all things, I thought of Big Bird. Then I thought of 'The Bird', ....then I thought of the Detroit Tigers, and then I thought of 1976, and then I thought of growing up on the farm. There I was as a kid with the world open to me and no idea of where it might take me. There I was with my dad and mom, still young and alive with energy in their eyes..... wraaastling I was,  with my brothers and wishing for girls to look my way. 

Fast forward now...... how many years is that? A good portion of a lifetime has gone by since those times. But here I am in Arizona as a 'senior now', and looking up at a Yellow Warbler. Time flies....and yet while time flies it replaces the memories of yesterday with events of today. Right before I left the east coast to start a few weeks of western life, the last bird I saw was a Yellow Warbler. And I saw that bird with one of my Grandsons who is 6 years old. It was at his house in Haddon Heights. Then we went inside and waited a few minutes before dinner. In those moments he showed me a program on his kindle. Guess what? It was a program that had Big Bird in it. 

​Wow...life just keeps hitting me.....I love life. 

New birds around......not 'new' as in a new species but, simply new birds to the world. 

Have you ever just watched them? I mean just sit on your back porch and watch the fledglings. Observe.....identify....They are really fascinating and when compared to a human baby, birds learn rapidly. They don't have all that long before they have to move from nest to flight to looonnnnng flight (as in migration).

We had a young pair of hummingbirds as well as 4-5 chickadees to observe on a daily basis, as we just sat on the back porch. The chickadees are a bit demanding, to say the least. They are constantly 'chickadeeing' to their mom. I can safely assume that a 'human soccer mom' has it fairly easy compare to a Chickadee mom. The Chickadee mom is always on call listening to feeding  the young (okay, so is the soccer mom). The chickadee mom is always in search for food (okay, so is the soccer mom). The fledglings have a difficult time just perching on branch without falling (hmmm...so do human toddlers with just standing quietly around too). When the fledglings finally determine to try to enter the bird food cage, they do so but wander around the super market of food attempting to figure out what to eat and from what perch to stand on. Okay, so do human kids at the store and the soccer mom trying to 'round them up'. 

So maybe 'safely assuming' that a soccer mom has it 'easy' compared to the Chickadee mom, well....is a bit of an overstatement. 

So let's move to the hummers. Fast little critters.... One thing I have noticed in is that they are not easily distracted unless...unless....it is from one of their kind. I can stand around right in front of them and they still partake from the feeder or my saliva plants. They really couldn't care less if I am around. If other birds such as  dove or robin or whatever, fly near it....they couldn't care less either. But if their 'kind'....their sibling or mom is close by, .....they immediately take flight and chase the other. Like bear cubs or lion cubs or any cub, they pester each other. 

I haven't quite figured out how the mom will drink up my concoction of sugar water and 'spit' it out into the fledgling. It happened a few times. But the hummer fledgelings took nicely to the feeder though. Just a few mishaps standing on the perch. But both the fledglings and the mom are so quick...that it is hard to follow too far. The dad, well......he was seen once at the beginning of the season so the mom in this case had the kids for the soccer season.

Before you read of 'the World and the Turd'....play the video. Listen now....Listen to the sound of Frogger. Visualize yourself crossing the street with cars coming in either direction and you, the frog.....going back and forth, across and over, up and down. A narrow miss, a split second to react, a nice push forward thru a lane and perhaps another. And then to the other side, if you are lucky my dear.

The other day I was walking the bike path in Egg Harbor Township. This path goes for miles from EHT up to Mays Landing. Every so often it comes to a stop as one has to allow cars to cross at some point, eh?  Well, it was at one of these points that I came across a small black beetle, his world, and while his turd, chances are it wasn't.

You see, as I walk I look forward to thoughts and boredom as well as the observation of nature. I stop and look at leaves or hear the birds and brush my fingers against grass or select the perfect  leaf to stroke the ribs. I will look up and find dragons in the clouds or perhaps ants in the dirt as they carry objects 10 times their weight to someplace unknown. I stop, watch....and be part of nature. Technology has robbed many of us of that. It isn't that the opportunity to be a zen within nature lacks, yet many people grow accustomed to non-observance of such. They are simply too lost in a world of pecking and pressing and swiping. Did it all start with Frogger? Perhaps, or was that Pong? 

Yet here I was immersed in the natural surroundings when the frogger came by, yet at this moment, was dressed in the skin of a 'black beetle'. On the blacktop I looked and saw this black beetle pushing a round turd. Not his turd for it was much larger than the beetle but I couldn't rightly say to whom or what it came from. This particular turd was round, and the size of a meatball. The beetle was pushing the turd across the blacktop. 

Now, the pushing itself was odd, or maybe not if you are a beetle. But the beetle was upside down, if that makes sense. His hind legs were on the turd while his face was down, towards the blacktop. With his front legs he pushed backwards, much like a baby might crawl backwards. With each backward push, the turd moved across the blacktop.

And then along came 'the road'...... I am not one to allow others to harm insects or bees or flies or birds, but here I let the beetle go on its way. Across the roadway separating the two paths it went. Across from one side to other with a car or two coming. Each time, the beetle and the turd dared not to stop, but kept pushing across. Just kept going like Frogger. No sideway jaunts or pauses, or any sudden movement to increase speed. Just a consistent grind. A steady pace. The beetle and the turd, his world. 

Before long, it managed to get to the other side, ....let it be said that neither came out smashed. No baby diaper here all smashed to the side, but a fully intact turd, continually being pushed and pushed and pushed ahead by a beetle so inclined to have the turd be the world.

Then on the other side, it ran up against a twig. The turd and the beetle stopped. The beetle became upright in walking manner and stood on top of the turd, as he was 'king of the mountain'. Scanning the horizon from an inch of elevation, allowed him to find the way around the twig. Back on course he moved forward. Another obstacle, another 'king of the mountain' play. 

Before long, the turd came to leaves and grass. Too difficult for this to continue. And of sudden instant as the world came to close, so did this adventure. Inclined to keep the turd where it lay, the beetle simply crawled under a leaf and remained so, hidden from view. His home? Or just a home found? I don't know. I suppose a leaf of any variety is home to a beetle but do they have any one particular leaf or spot they call home? Why not just ride it out here? After all, I have food, I have the turd. Many insects eats turds so this is not unusual and as long as I have shelter and food, I just need some water and I am sure it will rain today. So, a leaf, a turd and drops of rain. The world belonged solely to the beetle at this moment and he was inclined to accept it, as is. Safely across the street, and then a stop of action, for no real reason other than this leaf blocked the path of the turd. I suppose so.......

Okay.....What are they? ....What Species? Have you figured it out yet as 'both' of these can be found here in New Jersey? Raise of hands if you know? Anyone? 

Yes....they are a Warbler. Good, we have that to begin with. But what type of warbler are they? The species? Anyone?

This was the dilemma that faced  me the other day as Deb and I were at the Delaware Water Gap. A beautiful, yet humid day at 7am. Only in the 60's but Humid. How is that? Only in New Jersey. Yet the day 'sunnied' up a bit and we made it into the low 80's at the Gap, and still humid.

If you are familiar with the Gap, you are aware that it extends quite a long ways and the Jersey side is the only side worth birding. Old Mine's Road has a birding reputation and we experienced just that. Deb and I birded the morning till around 10, when we went to Hainseville General Store for a three-egg omelet with spinach and Cheese, prior to me dropping Deb off at an Art Workshop at Luna Parc (awesome place, see Website connection).

From that point on, I was on my own. I birded between Dingman's Crossing and Milford, or the upper part of the Gap. It is only about 8 miles in length and there were hardly any  motorcars, so...perfect birding from the road. Now at this point, this needs to be separated here a bit between the Everyone's and the No-ones. EVERYONE who birds a new spot will usually have a target species in mind. As I did with the Cerulean Warbler. I had it down visually. I knew what it looked like and dag-nabit Deputy Dog, if the Cerulean was there, I was going to find it. That is, 'if'...'if', if it presented itself to me. Otherwise, I had a great learning 'lead-up' as I prepared myself for this treasure.

But NO-One....No-One goes to a birding site prepared for what they are not expected to see such as rarities or hybrids or birds 'blown by the wind to and fro'. So I found myself in the No-One category. It was on my second loop of the Water Gap making myself down from Milford. I got out of the car and just started looking high in the trees for movement. But about mid-height I saw a bird fly across the road to a tree and begin to rummage around. My bins were on the bird and recently Deb and I had found a Chestnut-sided Warbler among others, so who knows....perhaps the Cerulean? 

No such luck but luck enough..... I found the bird on the left (see image above blog). Fairly interesting. Yellow cap, black eye stripe....yellow smudge on the breast and gray for the breast and rest of chest. Perfect...should be an easy find in the book but what is it? It appeared to me to be a Warbler. I took out my traveling companion Kaufman and looked it up. Nada....  yes, nada..... According to Kaufman there is no such bird and yet there it is in front of me. I am seeing it right, right? Right, I am. 

I only had the Kaufman with me and little or no Internet, so what am I seeing? It isn't a Blue-winged Warbler but golly man, it looks a lot like it with the exception of the overall grayish and lack of total yellow breast. It isn't a Golden-winged but according to Kaufman there is a Hybrid of these two birds. The image in Kaufman didn't resemble what I am seeing though, but I 'assumed' I was looking at a Brewster's Warbler. I even texted Lester my find and my assumption. 

It wasn't until after the day was done birding that my hunch paid off. Yes, it was the Brewster's Warbler....a Hybrid of the Blue-winged and Golden Winged and occurs in areas where the two species overlap.

As I looked on the Internet, the image of what I saw....came into full view. I am still not sure what Kaufman's image represents though. But the image 'above' on the left is exactly what I saw...bingo. Doing more research I pulled out my dad's old 1947 Tory Peterson's and like 'sure-fire', there it was. On plate 50 was an image of the exact Brewster's Warbler.

Looking at the Sibley....bingo again. There it is on page 428 of my version of Sibley. The Brewster's  Warbler. It is followed by the image on the right (above) of the Lawrence's Warbler.

Now you see.....you see.......  that in pure scientific hybird talk, there are what is labeled as Dominant and Recessive genes. According to Sibley and Peterson and others in the bunch, when the territory of the Blue-winged and Golden-winged overlap, they can breed with the dominant bird off-spring being the Brewster's while the recessive bird being the Lawrence's. 

But it doesn't stop right there.....I am happy I found a new 'lifer' species for me. Totally elated as I celebrated with a piece of pie from the Hainesville General Store after I picked up Deb at 4:30 (they close at 5pm and the prices of the pies were not in the  half-price, end of day category so we paid full price but it was well worth it).

Peterson actually has a bit more narrative within his explanation but to quote him " There is a good deal of variation, some individuals have white wing-bars, some with yellow and some are tinged with yellow below. The thin black eye-mark as in the Blue-wing,and the white or largely white, instead of solid yellow underparts are diagnostic (of the Brewster's)."

Peterson also goes onto say that the 'voice' of the Brewster's (or for that fact, in the Lawrence) can be either the Blue-winged or Golden-winged. So the species itself has a borrowed voice from the parents and can be 'one or the other'. How odd. 

Even odder.....according to Sibley.....first generation hybrids always appear as the Brewster's Warbler. Other research shows that the Warbler might shift from the Brewsters (left picture) to the Lawrence's (right image). And to further add confusion, according to the Classic Collection of North American Birds, state "that over a number of years, through breeding will return back to one of the original two bird species (Blue-winged and Golden-winged)".

I think Sibley sums it up best when he states "Scientific interpretations of these situations continually change as more data are amassed and species concepts evolve."

So the questions arise as more research is done on this hybrid but, ...it is a bird, is a species according to the ABA but does it evolve back from one species to the original parents and if so, why is it a new species to begin with? Or do some evolve back via subsequent breeding while others do not? The exact 'visual' of the Brewsters or Lawrence's'...while apparently known might not be known as variance occurs as Peterson notes. The song is 'one or the other' ...

So yes, Sibley at least has it right..... the data continually changes the look and knowledge base. I for one am just happy I added a lifer.....and more importantly was on my own.....able to correctly determine that some hanky-pankiness (don't you love that word....kind of like the word 'naughty'), is going on. I feel great that I correctly visualized the bird in the field and even ID'd the bird according to whatever information I had. Nice going jim......

eBird findings of Brewsters (click link).