Posted by Dave Irons (205.188.197.26) on October 06, 2000 at 20:42:54:
I'll start with the right hand bird. Supericially this bird looks to be a young MacGillavray's but it is not for several reasons. I believe the bird is an Orange-crowned. The bill on this birds looks generally thin and short like a Vermivora and unlike the thicker longer bill of an Oporornis. Secondly, the flanks of this bird show the faint streaking that is quite typical of Orange-crowneds and would be atypical for an Oporornis. While the head does appear grayish (some races of Oranged-ccrowned are gray headed) this bird lacks the bib or even the hint of a bib that is typical of MacGillavray's in all plumages. The eye-arcs, while quite bold on this bird are not out of the range of a young fresh plumaged Orange-crowned.
The left hand bird is more of a puzzler for me. On not much more than a shot in the dark I will guess that this bird is a Bell's Vireo. The color of the upperparts is tough to discern from this photo but looks mostly grayish-olive. The pearly pale gray underparts match a Bell's or perhaps a immature Chestnut-sided Warbler (which I don't think this is). The lores look dark with complete looking white eyering and the bill looks short and too stout to be a warbler from this angle. I'll look forward to being proven way off base on this one.