Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Blackpoll Warbler
Scientific name:	Setophaga striata
Date:	10/4/2025
Time:	12:17pm
Length of time observed:	11 minutes
Number:	1
Age:	undetermined
Sex:	undetermined
Location:	Provo Airport Dike / Utah Lake State Park (in the overlap between the 2 areas)
County:	Utah
Latilong:	40.235847, -111.736936
Elevation:	1368m
Distance to bird:	38 feet, but we were sheltered under trees looking across unobstructed into the tree it was in and didn't want to flush it.
Optical equipment:	Vortex 10x42 binoculars, Nikon Z8 cameras with NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S lenses (both observers with same camera setup), Zeiss Terra 8x42 binoculars
Weather:	Steady, moderate rain showers during the observation. Temp was 51 at the start, 48 when we finished our walk, and the rain started as a sprinkle, increasing to steady rain by the time we spotted the Blackpoll Warbler.
Light Conditions:	Cloudy/Raining so darker than normal, but reasonable lighting
Description: Size of bird:	"warbler sized"
(Description:) Basic Shape:	Somewhat round, but generally "warbler shaped".
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	Olive green/yellow with streaks, darker wings, and a distinct wingbar and tail pattern
(Description:) Bill Type:	Small, tapered and relatively thin, but not sharp-looking
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	Bird was a fairly typical but round warbler shape, tapering to the tail. Shorter tail and longer wings made it appear ice cream cone shaped towards the rear. It had a distinct eyeline with a thin broken eyering and very subtle/blurred facial markings. Streaks were present on the back and on the sides of the breast. Coloring was an unmarked olive green/yellow on the crown and olive green with blackish streaks on the back. Yellowish throat, cheek and breast, and bright white undertail coverts and belly and dark wings and tail (except for the white patterning of the wingbars and white tail corner spots on the outer two rectrices on each side). The undertail coverts appeared long and reached almost to the end of the tail and were bright white in a photo where they weren't shaded. Tail appeared short. It appears that the tips of some of the outer tail feathers are a bit broken/worn. The wings were dark with two white wingbars (near black in between the wingbars) and a longer primary projection. The tertials were noticeably white edged compared to other feathers in spread-wing photos. Notably, the feet were orange/yellow, with darker legs. Bill was mostly dark, fairly small and tapered, but not pointy enough to appear sharp. (see photos)
Song or call & method of delivery:	Silent, but it was raining and moderately noisy with other birds, airplanes, etc.
Behavior:	Foraging in trees with a group of OCWAs and YRWAs. Typical warbler behavior, fluttering up to grab insects and moving around in the leaves. It moved/flicked its wings and tail a bit, but I suspect that was an effort to shake off raindrops as much as anything else. The rain had been picking up from a sprinkle to full rain and the birds had not quit foraging yet. Generally, normal "warbler gleaning insects" type of activity.
Habitat:	Small to medium sized trees with shrubs closer to the trail, marshy habitat nearby. Small open area and then the Provo River to the North, and more trees/marsh and then Utah Lake to the South and West. Location is a very small peninsula between the river and lake. We believe the tree it was in was a Peach-leaf Willow. Area is suitable as a migrant trap on the Eastern side of Utah Lake. Appears to be very near the spot one was sighted in 2011.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	The bird, at first glance, struck me as another Orange-Crowned warbler, as there were several nearby, but I immediately noticed 2 white wingbars and then white markings on the tail corners when the tail was spread, and bright white undertail coverts. Therefore determined the bird to be something else, and something unusual, as it was not a combination either of us recognized as a regular local warbler. As there were also many Yellow-rumped Warblers in the area, those were the next thing ruled out. While there is a good amount of variation in YRWA and some without much color at all, this bird had an obviously dark rump. While the wingbars and tail pattern are similar, the dark rump ruled out YRWA. Next, we (wishful thinking) looked at Cape May Warbler as it would have the same white tail markings, eyeline and something of a wingbar, but our bird did NOT have the slightly downcurved and more sharp looking bill or lighter greenish rump that would be seen on a CMWA. We ruled out Pine Warbler by tail length and the length of the undertail coverts. A Pine Warbler would have a longer, very notched tail and shorter undertail coverts. A Pine Warbler should also have a brighter spot on front of the eye, and would lack the black bases to the covert feathers. We ruled out Bay-breasted Warbler due to the white undertail coverts and most evident, the distinctive yellow feet on our bird, which would not be present on a Bay-Breasted. We ruled out Nashville Warbler as our bird did not have a complete eyering, yellow undertail coverts or gray head and was generally too streaked to be a NAWA. Tennessee Warbler was ruled out because of the tail patterning and wingbars that would not be seen on a TEWA. Blackburnian Warbler was ruled out because our bird lacked the facial patterning and forehead stripe of this species. Also the tail pattern is different with our bird having white tail spots and the Blackburnian warbler having more extensively white outer tail feathers running the length of the feather. Other common warblers like Wilson's or Yellow were ruled out just on overall appearance and the wingbar/tail pattern on our bird that would never be seen on those species.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	I initially spotted it as being notably different than the expected warblers in the area, lost it, then refound it, and pointed it out to Esther to get her thoughts. It was raining harder at this point, and using her binoculars to get on the bird (which was moving around very actively), she was also struck by the unexpected white wing bars that made it not an OCWA, and the facial pattern that was "off" from a YRWA. I was already taking photos at this point, and Esther then switched to camera to try to document what we were seeing (briefly lost the bird and then refound it making the switch). The bird was moving around quite a bit but we were lucky in that it popped out into the open several times, although briefly. Eventually the bird and the flock it was with took off and after we had gotten completely soaked and retreated from the rain, Esther and I continued researching in the car to review photos, consolidate our notes and come to a conclusion on identification.
References consulted:	The Warbler Guide (Stephenson/Whittle), Sibley, Identification Guide to North American Birds (Pyle), All About Birds online, several additional online articles on differentiating fall Blackpoll Warblers from similar species. This includes https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BWM-Fall-Warbler-Guide.pdf and an ebird article called ID Tip: Blackpoll vs. Bay-breasted Warbler in Fall.
Description from:	Notes made later From photo(s) taken at the time of the sighting
Observer:	Connie Misket
Observer's address:	9764 S 1700 E, Sandy, UT 84092
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	Esther Sumner
Date prepared:	10/5/2025
Additional material:	Photos
Additional comments:	After consulting the Identification Guide to North American Birds, I'm thinking that aging or sexing a fall plumage Blackpoll Warbler can be very difficult without having the bird in hand for measurements and details on feather patterning and am leaving that undetermined.