Setophaga palmarum
Order Passeriformes
Family Parulidae
Other names: Yellow Palm Warbler, Yellow Redpoll for the Eastern subspecies, Brown Palm Warbler for the Western subspecies
Adult in spring.— Crown chestnut; back brownish; under parts bright yellow; sides of throat, breast, and sides of belly streaked with reddish-brown; no white wing-bars.
Adult in fall and Immature.— Crown-patch concealed; under parts as above.
Nest, on the ground.
Eggs, buffy white, speckled with brown.
The Yellow Palm Warbler or Yellow Redpoll is a migrant through New England and New York, appearing in April and early May, and again in September and early October. It breeds sparingly in open juniper-bogs in northern and eastern Maine (Knight). In spring it is a bird of stone walls, bushes, and low trees, feeding often on the ground. Its song resembles that of the Chipping Sparrow, but is less strong even than that simple performance. It is often associated in migration with the Yellow-rumped Warbler; the songs of the two Warblers are both rather feeble, but the Yellow Red poll’s is rougher and less likely to rise or fall into a different key.
The Yellow Palm Warbler has in spring a chestnut crown, like that of a Chipping Sparrow, but its bright yellow under parts distinguish it, of course, from that bird. It has, moreover, a trick of constantly wagging its tail up and down; this habit distinguishes it readily from the two other warblers with yellow under parts, the Nashville and the Yellow Warbler. (See also the account of the Black-Poll Warbler in autumn.)
The Western Palm Warbler is a regular, though rare, migrant in the latter half of September, generally appearing earlier than the preceding species. Its habits and haunts are similar to those of the Yellow Palm Warbler, and it takes a trained eye to distinguish between the two. Its breast, throat, and upper belly are all dingy whitish, only the extreme lower belly and the feathers under the tail are bright yellow. The eastern bird is yellow over the entire under parts.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)