Occam’s Warbler |

Warblers are small, fast moving birds, which can be very hard to identify, but when you are lucky with them, it’s pretty awesome.

This weekend I coined the term “Occam’s Warbler” which is a reference to the tendency of birdwatchers to look for the extraordinary and bizarre when the more obvious might be the case. Sometimes this works, but sometimes it can get in your way. One bird below is way out of its territory.

And this bird, for example:

is one I thought was a warbler until I looked at the photograph. I saw something vaguely warbler-shaped, with the general color and wing bars of pine warbler and thought “nice! I don’t often get to photograph those” so I snapped a few photos.

Then, later, I realized what I had: distinct pale around the eye, slight hook at the end of the beak. This wasn’t just a white-eyed vireo. For me, it’s the white-eyed vireo, the only one I’ve ever found.

So below– I want to say that almost every bird below is typical for New England, save one (I’ll let you guys try to figure out which one that is). There are routine reports of them, pretty much every year, and I’ve managed to photograph most of these birds in more than one year, and I have never taken a photo of a warbler outside of New England.

But there is this tendency birders have to go for the fantastical: we’re not satisfied with the extraordinary that exists in the every day, so we want something more exceptional. We try to find something bizarre and unusual in the normal to make it more exciting, but the truth of the matter is, most of what you see when birding is “normal.”

It is, however, also wonderful, beautiful, magnificent and surprising. Savannah Sparrows, with their shocking yellow, where you expect to find a song sparrow. A lone canada warbler mixed in with a flock of magnolias. Sometimes it’s something completely out of the ordinary, but sometimes it’s just a weird variation, such as this bird which I’m certain is a purple finch…

…despite its odd coloring. Everything about this bird screams purple finch to me, except that it’s a deep red at points. So what’s more likely: a bird that’s nothing like any bird anywhere in my literature? Something unheard of? Or a purple finch that’s using red cedar scraps as parts of its nesting material? I’m not saying it’s impossible that it’s something else (after all, my white-eyed vireo was kind of a surprise). I’m saying that when you have a simple and clear cut explanation, it’s sometimes better to just go with that.

So… Occam’s Warbler.

Below is a warbler quiz– I’ve included a lot of photos of warblers. In every case, you can click on the image to get the information about the bird. It also gets you to a larger version, but see if you can ID some of the birds without looking. Some are trickier than others. Some are duplicated under other bird #s, but generally with a different form of plumage.

I’ll start with an easy one, because it looks a lot like its name:

Bird #1.

Bird #2:

Bird #3:

Bird #4 (this one also looks a lot like its name):

Bird #5:

Bird #6:

Bird #7:

Bird #8: One that often confuses me:

Bird #9:

Bird #10:

Bird #11 (not a great shot but enough to ID it):

Bird #12:

Bird #13 (fall form– very hard):

Bird #14: (also advanced / fall form):

Bird #15:

Bird #16:

Bird #17:

Bird #17 is easy to confuse with bird #18, but there are a few tell tale differences: eye ring vs white around/near the eye and a simple necklace rather than streaks down the chest are the marks I use. Here’s bird #18: