Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina), Sweetwater Wetlands, Pima County

This Tennessee Warbler was discovered by Will Russell and photographed by Michael Lester on 17 September 2010

The last couple of years have been better than the recent norm for this species in the state, with multiple birds being documented in both 2008 & 2009. Arizona saw a significant drop-off in reports of this vagrant in the 1990's and early 2000's compared to the relatively numerous reports in the state from the 1970's and 1980's.  This is the fourth Tennessee Warbler documented at Sweetwater since 2008. 

Mostly white undertail coverts and short tail rule out Orange-crowned Warbler.

These photos were extremely backlit.  This resulted in underexposing the bird and extreme amounts of chromatic abberation (purple fringing).  The photos were extensively photoshoped to reduce these problems. 

17 September 2010, photo by Michael Lester

All photos are copyrighted© by photographer