Golden-winged Warbler
Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa
12 January 2002
Joseph Morlan

This morning Robbie Fischer and I visited the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa in hopes of seeing the Golden-winged Warbler which was apparently found 16 December 2001 on the Northeastern Orange County Christmas Bird Count by Larry Tripp. We arrived around 8 am and checked the Chinese Elms in the small campground adjacent to Entrance #4 where we had been told the bird was usually seen. A number of birders arrived and eventually Joel Weintraub located the Black-and-white Warbler in the park; but the Golden-winged Warbler proved illusive until Steve Glover located it on the hillside adjacent to the amphitheater around 11am.

It stayed low, in small shrubs adjacent to the fence line occasionally foraging on the ground near a pipe along the fence It was quite flitty and difficult to track. The bird remained in view off-and-on for a couple of minutes before disappearing with a group of Yellow-rumped Warblers.

The following notes were taken immediately after the observation.

A small warbler with a gray back, and unstreaked whitish below. Gray shading appeared along the flanks and sides. The throat was grayish, but there did not appear to be a well defined patch. Instead the gray seemed unexpectedly blended. However, a well defined dark-gray wedge-shaped patch was evident extending through the eye. Although this patch was somewhat narrower than I anticipated.

The most distinctive feature were two bright yellow wing-bars contrasting with the gray wings. A faint tinge of greenish was on the crown.

The outer tail feathers appeared entirely white while the bird flitted about in the shrubbery and the entire underside of the tail appeared white.

Discussion.

This bird appeared very dingy for this species and is probably the drabbest individual I have ever seen. The markings were so faint that I worried the bird might be a Brewster's Warbler or other hybrid combination. After writing the above description I consulted Sibley and found the bird most closely matching the adult female Golden-winged and not any illustrated hybrid plumage.