Brewster's Warbler in St. Louis County
2014-08-18

First record for St. Louis County

Adult male "Brewster's Warbler" at Park Point Recreation Area, Duluth, 18 August 2014. This first-generation hybrid Blue-winged Warbler X Golden-winged Warbler was discovered by Jan & Larry Kraemer on the 17th, and was still present on the 22nd as documented by Kim Eckert in his MOU-Net posting. A preliminary review of The Loon and exploration of data from eBird has revealed almost a hundred records of "Brewster's" and "Lawrence's" warblers in Minnesota, including two previous reports for St. Louis County: 14 October 1997 at Hoyt Lakes (A. Evers) and 10 August 2005 in west Duluth (J. Barrett). Records of these hybrids are accumulating at an increasing rate as the range of Blue-winged Warbler expands to the north and west, thereby increasing the likelihood of hybrid pairings.

Image taken by Peder H. Svingen on a dreary, overcast day with intermittent drizzle.