Pine Warbler
Fairhaven Memorial Park
Santa Ana, Orange County, California
29 January 2001
Joseph Morlan

Today Robbie Fischer and I decided to look for the Pine Warbler originally found 28 December 2000 by Doug Willick and seen sporadically since. Eventually I located the male Pine Warbler foraging on the lawn among the tombstones at the south end of the cemetery. It associated with a large flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a few Lesser Goldfinches, Western Bluebirds and one American Goldfinch. Robbie and I were afforded excellent views at close range as the bird remained in the open in excellent bright sunlight for at least 10 minutes or more. It spent most of its time on the ground poking around the edges of the gravestones and the curb at the edge of the paved road, but it eventually flew up into an ornamental broadleaf tree. At no time did I see the bird in a pine.

From a distance it could be picked out by its bright yellow head and breast and by its interesting habit of cocking its tail and drooping its wings as it foraged. Eventually the flock moved to the south end of the adjacent Santa Ana Cemetery where I was able to show it to another birder.

The following is based on notes taken immediately after the observation:

An obvious warbler, similar in size to adjacent Yellow-rumped Warblers.

The upperparts were olive-brown, but decidedly paler gray-brown on the rump and uppertail coverts. There was no streaking evident on the back. The crown was more olive green, blending with the duller back and blending with the bright yellow head and breast.

The dark eye had a faint broken eye-ring and the yellow on the side of the neck accented the dark olive brown cheeks. When the bird faced us, several short blackish streaks could be seen on the sides of the breast within the yellow, but these streaks were not evident when viewed from the side. The yellow breast contrasted with the dull whitish underparts. A very faint yellowish color could be seen along the flanks when the bird was in good light.

The long thin tail was cocked much of the time revealing long narrow white tail-spots on the underside extending all the way to the tip of the tail. The short undertail coverts contributed the apparent long-tailed look of the bird.

The wings were slate-gray, with broad grayish-white wing-bars formed by pale tips to the greater and median coverts. The tertials were more narrowly edged with grayish-white. The primary projection appeared to be relatively short.

The all dark bill was slightly longer, but no thicker, than those of the adjacent Yellow-rumped Warblers. I looked specifically for a pale base to the lower mandible and was unable to detect it, possibly because all view were mostly from above. The legs and feet appeared all dark.