Bird Description

Fairly common spruce bog breeder, scarcer in mixed forest. Breeding ? 'firethroats' always get a big 'aah' from the crowd. Unfortunately they are often at the very tops of trees. Listen for the song, a series of accelerating high-pitched 'see' notes, distinctive in the way it goes off the scale. Commoner in the W in spring and E in fall. Fairly early fall migrant. ID: A long attenuated body often makes the tail look shorter than it is. Thick neck helps to give it a pointed front-end. All plumages have dark triangular ear coverts, pointed at rear and bordered by yellow/orange. Throat is bright, flanks streaked, and has broad white wing bars. Particularly boldly striped upperparts. Ad ? br: superb 'on fire' throat, white wing patches on mostly black back. Ad ? fall: similar to ?/1st-yr with slightly brighter throat, 2 broader wing bars. Ad ? br: throat paler, diffuse flank streaking, narrower wing bars. Fall ? and 1st-yr birds similar. Palest yellow mostly young ?.