(no, not just in spring, as some claim),

and lots of beginners think they’re hear-

ing a phoebe or White-throated Sparrow.

• Thrushes. They usually seem to be

lurking in the shadows and in heavy cov-

er, making their subtle field marks and

identities hard to determine.

• European Starling (heard-only). Just

this one starling in my yard does a perfect

Killdeer, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe,

Eastern Meadowlark, and probably others.

Think of all the other starlings elsewhere

imitating other species, and they certainly

must result in erroneous reports of many

heard-only birds.

• Tennessee Warbler. Compared to

what they look like in spring, those bright

green-and-yellow Tennessees in fall look

so different and are so commonly seen

that I often see birders struggle with their

ID.

• Connecticut Warbler look-alikes. Be-

cause the Connecticut Warbler is so high-

ly sought, there is a natural tendency for

wishful thinking among birders wanting

to see one. I know the similarly plumaged

Nashville Warbler, even though its behav-

ior is quite different, is often mistaken for

the secretive Connecticut, and Mournings,

which are genuine skulkers, can have

complete and Connecticut-like eye rings

in fall.

• Female/immature Cape May Warbler.

Cape Mays in fall are often drab, quite

variable in plumage, and more common

than many birders think. Among the truly

“confusing fall warblers,” this is one I es-

pecially notice that birders have problems

with.

• Pine Warbler look-alikes. Whenever

I see Pine Warblers routinely listed as part

of a warbler wave, I always wonder. They

just don’t hang out much with other mi-

grants, and I suspect that a Bay-breast-

ed or Blackpoll is what was really seen,

though some Tennessees and Cape Mays

might also have passed for Pine Warblers.

(I’ve also heard of goldfinches at feeders

in winter being confused with Pine War-

blers.)

• Female/juvenile Common Yel-

lowthroat. I often notice that these quite

drab warblers frequently give birders

pause. Admittedly, I can’t say they tend to

be confused with anything in particular,

but the species is widespread, and thus

commonly encountered, so that many ID

errors seem inevitable.

• American Tree Sparrow. Because

this sparrow’s breast spot is often just an

indistinct gray smudge rather than the

clean-cut black spot shown in the field

guides, birders in winter easily confuse it

with Chipping Sparrow.

• Vesper Sparrow. When its white out-

er tail feathers catch an eagerly optimis-

tic birder’s eye, there can be a tendency

to think the bird is something more in-

teresting than a Vesper Sparrow, like a

Sprague’s Pipit or one of the longspurs.

• Song Sparrow look-alikes. I am con-

tinually amazed that so many birders (and

field guide authors!) think that only Song

Sparrows have streaked underparts merg-

ing into a central breast spot. In reality,

Vespers, Savannahs, Fox, and Lincoln’s

(among others) share this same pattern

and thus become commonly mistaken for

Song Sparrows.

• Female/juvenile Red-winged Black-

bird. Arguably, this may be the most

confusing ID problem of them all for be-

ginners. If you tell them that the brown-

streaked bird with a pale eye-stripe they’re

wondering about is a female Red-winged

Blackbird, they may refuse to believe it.

• Meadowlarks. There’s probably no

problem if it’s singing, or if you’re safely

beyond the Eastern Meadowlark’s Minne-

sota range (Westerns are statewide). But

otherwise, be prepared to make mistakes.

• Female/juvenile Brown-headed Cow-

bird. Those nondescript, faintly streaked

grayish birds not only confuse beginners,

but they can even prove confusing to

more advanced birders who know about

female Red-wingeds.

• Blackbirds. Red-wingeds and cow-

birds aside, other blackbirds cause fre-

quent difficulties. The main problem is

that Rusty Blackbirds (mostly in spring)

and Common Grackles (mostly females

and in winter) are mistaken for Brewer’s

Blackbirds. Though frequently reported,

Spring 2007

49