Icterine Warbler: A First North American Record

When Rodney Ungwiluk spotted this beautiful icterine warbler at Gambell last week, he soon realized it was a bird he hadn’t seen or photographed before. Shaking with excitement, he waited patiently behind a rock for the warbler to come to him and offer him a series of wonderful shots.

At home with his excellent photos and bird books he couldn’t figure out the bird’s identity. Only after consulting Gambell birding guides Aaron Lang, Steve Heinl and Brad Benter who are familiar with birds around the world, did he learn that it was an icterine warbler––a species never before documented in North America, or even anywhere close.

Icterine warblers are common birds in Europe where they breed. They migrate south to southern Africa for the winter.

Ungwiluk spotted the warbler several days after typhoon Merbok lashed the Bering Strait region. Storms often displace birds. However, Paul Lehman, an authority on bird distribution in the Bering Strait region, thinks it is highly unlikely that the storm was responsible for the icterine warbler’s appearance at Gambell.

He explained that the storm came from the south, and the storm path was nowhere near the normal migratory path of the icterine warbler. He suspects the bird’s innate internal navigation system went away and it simply went the wrong direction.

Lehman said that over the years many far-flung vagrants have turned up at Gambell, but the icterine warbler is one of the most unusual ones because it is so far from its normal breeding or winter range.

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