Tennessee titan!
Britain’s first Tennessee Warbler for a quarter of a century proved to be a mega unblocker on Shetland, as it was twitchable for just under a week.
NEWS of a Tennessee Warbler on Yell, Shetland, broke on 29 September, causing huge excitement within the British birding community. Found by Yell resident Dougie Preston, it represents just the fifth British record and the first for 25 years, when one reached the remote Hebridean island of St Kilda on 20 September 1995.
It comes on the back of an excellent run of North American landbirds in the north-western reaches of the Western Palearctic in mid to late September, following two fast-moving depressions tracking east across the
North Atlantic from north-east Canada. The first delivered the Western Palearctic’s first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher to Tiree, Argyll, on 15th, while the second hit Iceland and latterly western Norway on 20-21st, producing Alder Flycatcher, Swainson’s Thrush, Tennessee Warbler and several American Buff-bellied Pipits in the former nation and then a sensational warbler double in Norway on 23rd.
It’s highly likely that the Yell Tennessee Warbler arrived in Europe on the latter of these two systems and, given its appearance on 29th, more than a week after the weather had passed, Shetland is presumably not where it first made landfall on this side of the Atlantic – unless it had been hidden away somewhere else on the isles.
At the time, Shetland had been receiving a north or north-easterly airflow, with a noticeable arrival of Continental migrants including decent numbers of Yellow-browed Warblers. Although hypothetical, it seems reasonable to think that this bird first arrived further north, most probably on the west Norwegian coast, and then filtered south, arriving among Palearctic migrants making a similar journey.
Tennessee Warbler is something of a September speciality in Britain, with the month hosting all five British sightings of this North American species. The first for Britain was found on 6 September 1975 on Fair Isle, lingering a full two weeks and being trapped and ringed on 18th. Sensationally, a second individual was found on the same island on 24th – just four days after the first had departed.
Orkney then chipped in with the third British record, when one was found at Holm on 5 September 1982. It lingered three days, being trapped on the final date. Thirteen years passed until the next appeared, this being the aforementioned one-day wonder on St Kilda.
This is one of the most desirable Nearctic wood warblers on the British list, having been seen by precious few birders over the years. Lingering for an extended period, the Yell individual was hugely popular with twitchers, both from around the islands and also further afield, and possibly even challenging the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher for some birders’ bird of the autumn.
Looking further afield, the Yell Tennesse Warbler is just the 14th of its kind to be seen in the Western Palearctic. The first regional record came on 14 October 1956, when one was found dead on the Snaesfellness peninsula in western Iceland.
Following records in September 2019 and on 22 September 2020, when one was found trapped in a house in the north of the country, Iceland has now logged three Tennessee Warblers.
In 1984, one was ringed at Suðuroy, Faroe Islands, on 21 September. Making up the rest of the WP tally, the Azores has logged five since the first on Corvo on 21 November 2005. The island also recorded birds in the Octobers of 2011, 2012 and 2017, while there is one occurrence from Flores on 7 October 2010. ■