Hooded Warbler

Status Rare vagrant. This bird was not recorded until 1959, when a total of five were seen between early August and early September by Evelyn Richardson on Bon Portage Island and by Betty June and Sidney Smith on Cape Sable. Since then, there have been about 45 records of at least 60 birds, including specimens and photographed individuals. Virtually all have occurred on Brier, Bon Portage, Cape Sable, Sable or Seal islands, along with two on the Lurcher Lightship. Thirteen have appeared in April (including a very early one on Sable Island on 6 April 1984), six in May, and three in June (latest 14 June 1971, on Sable Island). Three unseasonal birds were seen on Sable Island on 2 July 1967. The rest have been reverse fall migrants, with about twice as many in September as in either August or October. A male was on Cape Sable between 2 and 13 November 1967, and another appeared at Sable River, Shelburne County, on 27 November 1963. The only other non-island record was most unusual: a bird at Ketch Harbour, Halifax County, during the Halifax West Christmas Bird Count on 27 December 1976 (B.K. Doane, E.L. Mills).

Remarks This bird is easy to identify: it is bright yellow below, the male has a black hood surrounding a bright yellow face and the female is distinguished from the similar Wilson's Warbler by her white outer tail feathers. It nests as near as southern New England and is regularly recorded as a vagrant.