[mou] Wood Lake migrants, bizarre warbler plumage

[Chris Mansfield]

A quick walk through the SW areas of Wood Lake in Richfield (Bryant
entrance, Prairie Trail, SW Perimeter Trail): Empidonax sp., many RC
Kinglet and E. Phoebe, catbirds, Ovenbirds, Hermit Thrushes, Winter
Wren foraging in cottonwood litter, adult Harris' Sparrow mixed in with
the many White-throated, Swamp, Lincoln's, and juncos.  Just a nice mix
of fall migrants; the weirdness was yet to come.    

When I got to the western junction of the Prairie Trail and Perimeter
Trail (by 35W) at 10:40 AM, I saw the oddest aberrant plumage I've yet
seen on a bird.  Foraging down low in the shrub/litter with a few
Yellowrumps, Orange-crowns, and Nashvilles was a warbler with a totally
white head and bright yellow body, including back, wings and (stumpy,
half-grown-looking) tail, except for a couple of black secondaries and
a small band of black wing coverts.  I did not see the rump or
uppertail coverts.  The left eye was dark (did not see right eye well);
the bill and legs were bright orange-pink.  The bird did not call or do
anything else very helpful to ID itself; it was more shy than the other
warblers, often staying in the cover of downed trees, and it didn't
flutter out to catch flying insects like the Yellowrumps, but neither
did it dangle/probe like a Vermivora or walk or fan its tail or wag or
do anything to recall a particular species/genus.  Unfortunately, I
didn't have a camera with me, and though I searched for about 20
minutes after it first disappeared into the brush farther west (closer
to the freeway wall), I didn't see it again.  Very strange-looking
bird.

Chris

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Chris Mansfield
Richfield, Hennepin Co. MN
bikebirder75@yahoo.com

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