Mourning Warbler - Oporonis philadelphia

Last week at the museum, I worked on a male Mourning warbler that in May of this year had come through the city and hit a downtown building. Mourning warblers, like almost all of the wood warblers (family Parulidae) are brightly colored and beautiful. They look very similar to the other 3 species in their genus (Oporonis), especially MacGillivray's warbler (O. tolmiei). Both species have the grey "hood", bright yellow breast and olive green wings and back. Looking at a map of their respective North American ranges, however, O. philadelphia is found mainly in the eastern and midwestern portions, while O. tolmiei is primarily found west of the Rockies.

*watercolor available in Etsy Shop.