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Probable hybrid Hermit x Black-throated Gray Warbler (Setophaga occidentalis x nigrescens), Gilbert Water Ranch, Maricopa County

This probable hybrid Hermit x Black-throated Gray Warbler was found by Dara Vasquez and Cindy Marple and photographed by Cindy Marple on 08 October 2018

Though both Hermit and Black-throated Gray warblers have hybridized with Townsend's Warbler (Hermit x Townsend's is regularly seen), this may be the first documented hybrid between Hermit Warbler and Black-throated Gray Warbler.

The streaked flanks, concentrated yellow in the supraloral, and overall grayish and whitish plumage suggest Black-throated Gray Warbler parentage. Hermit Warbler parentage is suggested by the pale face without distinctly dark auriculars, olive tinge to the back, and by the yellow in the supraloral bleeding onto the supercilium. Though adults of both species show some black in the throat as adults, young birds (especially females) have pale throats; the tapered tail feathers also show this to be a young bird.


08 October 2018, photo by Cindy Marple

All photos are copyrighted© by photographer

Submitted on 08 October 2018

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