Posted by Gary W. Potter (205.188.193.189) on October 09, 2000 at 21:39:38:
My impression of the bird on the left is California Gnatcatcher. The bill seems too short for a Bewick's Wren, although from the angle of the photo, this is a tough call. The eyerings seem about right and the lack of other strong facial pattern for me eliminates BEWR. The whitish markings on the under tail are about right for Calif. Gnatcatcher as is the overall coloration. I do not see much brown in any of this picture, but color on these monitors can be very misleading.
The Warbler is another matter. The streaking on the sides seems too bold for Orange Crowned, and the eye crescents seem too bold also. The faint streaking on Orange-crowned usually covers the whold breast, not just the sides of it as shown in this photo. Also I've never seen a MacGillivray's with out a complete upper eye crescent, with this much yellow on the throat, or with streaking on the sides of the breast.
I'm going way out on a limb with this speculation, but could this possibly be a first fall female Prairie Warbler. The streaking looks more like a Prairie than any other thing I can think of. The eye crescents seem ok also, but there should be a little more face pattern, and then there is the problem with the pinkish legs. A Prairie should not have pink there I think!!! I'm going to have to think about this one some more!