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Palm Warbler

Setophaga palmarum
Parulidae
Rufous cap, clear eyebrow, yellow throat, and grayish brown above
Eastern populations have yellow underparts whereas ...
... western populations show little yellow except on throat
However, always yellow beneath tail whether ...
...member of eastern or ...
... western popuations
More like pipit than warbler because of long tail ...
... long legs, and ...
... usually on the ground ...
... foraging for insects while waggling its tail
Even scored a Dorito chip!
Despite name, it has little to do with palms on wintering grounds
It breeds in bogs near boreal forests where ...
... the nest of 4-5 eggs ...
... is placed on a hummock of sphagnum moss.
Wouldn't Sphagnum Sparrow be a more appropriate name?

Available records for Salter Grove from 2002 through 2023 show that the Palm Warbler has only been seen twice while migrating through, first in late October 2020 and then again in late September 2023.

The Palm Warbler was named based on a specimen collected on Hispaniola, the Caribbean island that consists of the Dominican Republic and Haiti--where palm trees are abundant.  Contrary to what its name suggests, however, it has little to do with palm trees.  Instead, it breeds in northern Canada, in bogs near boreal forests that consist of conifers.  Sphagnum Warbler may be a more appropriate name since that would reflect its habit of nesting on tussocks of sphagnum moss.

It is unlike other warblers in behavior.  At first sight, it might be mistaken for a pipit because of its long legs and tail.  It also walks on open ground while foraging for insects rather than flit through foliage or small twigs.  However, the lemony yellow feathers beneath the base of a tail that flicks up and down continuously redirects identification to that of a Palm Warbler.

All Palm Warblers are consistently brownish-gray above, have a bold but pale eyebrow as well as bright yellow feathers beneath the base of its waggly tail.  However, populations in the eastern third of its breeding range in Northern Canada have bright yellow underparts whereas populations further west have less to no yellow on the breast plumage.

The eastern yellow subspecies winters mostly in the Gulf region of the southeastern United States and migrates along the East coast.  This would be the likely form passing through Salter Grove. The western form winters mostly in the Caribbean Basin and migrates west of the Appalachian. 

Although the Palm Warbler is mostly known as a migrant in the United States, breeding bird surveys conducted in New York's Adirondack Park during 1980-85 and 2000-05 included the Palm Warbler!  Its breeding biology has not been well studied or documented relative to other warbler species because of its remote subarctic breeding ground.  Perhaps existing gaps in images of eggs, nestlings, and fledglings can now be filled with studies of this southernmost breeding population.