Female Black Throated Blue Warbler

This female black-throated blue warbler (Setophaga caerulescenswas seen by Ft. Jefferson on this trip in Dry Tortugas National Park.  This bird was a really tough bird for me to identify immediately and before making the photo, though perhaps that this was another female American redstart, but things were not matching up and once again my friend Michael Redmond (his laboratory here) came to the rescue when he said ” The whitish supercilium (eyebrow) that extends behind the eye and the white lower eye crescent on a darkish head suggest this” (black-throated blue warbler).  Then he asked if I had seen any male black-throated blue warblers around.  It turns out that I did (shown in the photo below) and the bird above was the female of the species, quite different from the male.

Camera: Canon 1D MkIV
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300mm
ISO: 100

 

 

This was a lousy photo, but I am including it here to demonstrate the markings of the male black-throated blue warbler vs the female at top.  Also the male seemed much more skittish than the female who posed nicely for me.

Camera: Canon 1D MkIV
Exposure: 1/3200
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300mm
ISO: 1600

 

 

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