Here's a young male Common Yellowthroat warbler in our garden. Look at his lower face and you can see a spot of black. He does not look like the adult male yet, but will when the rest of the black feathers of his bandit-like adult mask grow in. Look closely at Common Yellowthroats you see this fall and look for hints of black on their face, it will help you distinguish the young males from the females.
Young birds like this are newly independent and begin to wander. We are already seeing some warblers on the move here in NH and recently we saw some Chestnut-sided and Black-throated Green warblers migrating through.
