Yellow-throated Warbler in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska

Authors

Mark A. Brogie, Nebraska Ornithologists' Union
Bill F. Huser, Nebraska Ornithologists' Union
Jerry Probst, Nebraska Ornithologists' Union

Date of this Version

12-2023

Document Type

Article

Citation

Nebraska Bird Review, volume 91, number 4, December 2023, pp. 155–156.

Comments

Published by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Inc.

Abstract

Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica) is a rare to uncommon migrant in eastern and central Nebraska. It is possibly a regular breeder locally at sites containing sycamores in several southeastern Nebraska counties bordering the Missouri River. There are few Nebraska reports after July, with more reports November–January than August–October. This species has three previous documented Nebraska Panhandle records, all from May.

1. One photographed 26 May 2009, at Crescent Lake NWR, Garden Co.

2. One seen and “well described” 06 May 1931, at Antioch, Sheridan Co.

3. A specimen taken 20 May 1917, at Oshkosh, Garden Co., was once #2892 (now missing) in the Brooking Collection.

The following documents the westernmost Nebraska record for Yellow-throated Warbler, the first fall Nebraska Panhandle record, and the first record for the species in Scotts Bluff County.

On the morning of 27 September 2023 while birding the upper wooded area of Carter Canyon, we encountered a group of calling (type 2) Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). As we viewed the crossbills, we noted a warbler fly in and land in a large Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) located just south of the road. After alighting high in the tree, the bird remained motionless for several minutes, long enough for Brogie to get his camera and take distant photos of the bird. The photos confirmed the bird as a Yellow-throated Warbler: long-billed warbler with dark cap and face, white supercilium and white postauricular patch, with horizontal black stripe posterior to eye, whitish lower belly, and whitish sides with dark streaking. The yellow throat was noted in the field but is not discernable in the photos. Age and sex of the bird were not determined. When the bird departed, it flew across the road heading northeast. In flight, two observers heard it issue a sharp chip call. We searched this area for nearly an hour without relocating the bird.