Worm-eating Warbler
Huntington Central Park
Orange County, California
17 October 1999
Joseph Morlan
This morning Robbie Fischer and I decided
to check the area around the lake on the west side of Huntington Central Park in search of the Worm-eating Warbler
which had been found here yesterday by Doug Willick. We arrived around 8am and had no luck until almost 10am when
I located the Worm-eating Warbler in a grove a sycamores near the restrooms on the west side of the lake. It was
associating loosely with several Orange-crowned Warblers and I glimpsed it briefly before it flew into a dense
section of the tree. I called to other birders including Laurie and Mark Conrad, Jim Abernathy, and Loren Hayes.
Soon Mark located the bird and then Jim and I glimpsed it several times. Finally I got on the bird and it flew
into the very top of a mostly bare eucalyptus infested by lerps. There most people got views of the bird as it
moved quickly in the tops of the trees before disappearing into the row of eucalyptus adjacent to the dog enclosure.
The total time was probably not more than five minutes, but the actual views probably were less than a minute.
The following description is based on notes made immediately after seeing the bird:
A warbler, slightly larger than adjacent Orange-crowned Warbler, but smaller than nearby Yellow-rumped Warblers.
The head and breast were a warm tawny-buff color blending gradually with a grayish-white belly and undertail. Two distinct black lines extended through each eye, and two lateral crown strips were visible occasionally as the bird dropped down in the trees. The bill was very sharply pointed, but did not appear especially long or spiky.
The undertail coverts were marked by wedge-shaped dark-gray spots, visible when the bird was overhead in the trees. The underside of the rather short tail was unmarked gray without tail spots.
The back was seen only briefly, but was judged to be a rather plain dull brown color without wing-bars or other visible markings. The legs were fairly bright pink.
Loren Hayes had seen the bird better the day before and agreed that today the bird's bill did not appear especially long, but stated that with better views the bill seemed longer. I was unable to see any color on the bill.
