A female at Oasis MNO 21 May 1981  (left) had just taken a bath in a drainage ditch; the imm. male (above) was banded by Big Sur Ornithology Lab at Big Sur R. mouth MTY on 6 Oct 2001. I just happened to be at BSOL when it was brought in from a net, and so obtained this in-hand photo.

The BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER is a rare but regular spring and fall vagrant to California, with a few wintering along the coast. Summering birds are quite unusual. At the time I wrote Rare Birds of the West Coast (1980), Black-and-whites average about 80/year in California, with averages of 42/fall and 26/spring, with about 9/year wintering and 1/year summering. Because coverage is better now, I suspect the per/year averages are slightly higher but in my experience the relative abundance has remained about the same, with "good" years and "poor" years often mirroring larger overall annual trends for eastern vagrants.

All of my California records are listed below. Those preceded by H were found or co-found by me personally; those preceded by K receive some partial credit (e.g., I was involved in sorting out i.d. of a previously discovered bird or refound a vagrant that had been thought to have left). My notes in the 1970s do not always sort out credit issues so it is possible additional birds might have been "self-found." As with many eastern vagrants, many more were seen during active rarity chasing throughout the state in younger days, and a higher percentage of records are from my local county (MTY) in recent years. At the time this is posted (Apr 2001) there are 66 on the following list.

These are my personal Black-and-white Warbler records:

9/29/73     Pt. Pinos MTY     imm
6/3/74     Deep Springs INY     female
H 9/27/74     Pt. Reyes MRN     imm female
5/16/74     Kelso SBE     female
5/24/75     Deep Springs INY     adult male
5/24/75     Scottys Castle INY     female
5/25/75     Oasis MNO     male
5/25-26/75     Deep Springs INY     male
5/26/75     Deep Springs INY     2nd male
5/26/75     Oasis MNO     female
5/29/75     Santa Barbara I. SBA     male
5/30/75     Oasis MNO     female
5/22/76     Oasis MNO     female
5/23/76     Deep Springs INY     female
H 9/25/76     Pt. Reyes (Mendoza) MRN     female
H 5/22/77     Scottys Castle INY     2 males; 1 found by me
H 5/23-24/77     Oasis MNO     3: 2 males found by me, 1 fem
H 5/26/77     Oasis MNO     imm male
H 5/27/77     Oasis MNO     3 new females, 1 found by me
5/28-30/77     Oasis MNO     another new female
6/9/77     Pt. Reyes (Drakes Beach) MRN     singing male
11/4/77     Carmel R. mouth MTY     imm
5/22/78     Deep Springs INY     female
5/25/78     Deep Springs INY     different female
5/24/78     Scottys Castle INY     male
5/28/78     Oasis MNO     2: male & female
10/30/78     Carmel R. mouth MTY     2: imm male & female
9/27/79     Carmel R. mouth MTY    imm
10/17/79     Esplanade, Pt. Pinos MTY     1 fem
H 25 Oct 79     Carmel R. mouth     1 imm male
11/28/79 & 1/3/80    Pacific Grove MTY (Wood & Short)
9/7/80    Tijuana R. valley SD     female at Wendover Ranch
H 10/9/80     Carmel R. mouth MTY     imm male
10/26/80 & 12/30/80    Carmel R. mouth MTY     imm male
1/2/81      Pacific Grove MTY     ad (?) female on Short St.=returning bird?
5/21/81      Oasis MNO     2: male & female
9/6/81     Pt. Pinos MTY     1 imm
H 10/12/81  Carmel R. mouth MTY     imm male
10/15/81      Carmel R. mouth MTY     diff imm male
5/26/82      Pt. Loma SD     singing male
6/22/82      Pt. Reyes MRN     2: Fish Docks & Lighthouse
10/20/82    Carmel R. mouth MTY     imm male
12/19/82    Nearys Lagoon, Santa Cruz SCZ     2 fem/imm-pl.
9/30/84     Washington Park, P.G., MTY     1 fem
H 10/3/87     Little Sur R. mouth MTY     1 imm
5/5/92     Hopkins Marine Station, P.G., MTY    1 sing male
10/4/92     Big Sur R. mouth MTY     1 imm
9/5/93     Carmel R. mouth MTY     imm
10/31/94   Carmel R. mouth MTY     1 imm male
9/11/95     Carmel R. mouth MTY     1 imm fem
H 10/2/95     Big Sur R. mouth             1 ad fem nr lab
H 10/3/95     Big Sur R. mouth MTY     1 imm fem nr Cooper
10/14/95      Big Sur R. mouth     1 imm fem, treated as new
H 9/24/96     Big Sur R. mouth MTY    1 fem in S mouth patch
H 10/3/96     Carmel R. mouth MTY     1 imm fem upstream of Hwy 1
[10/6/01     Big Sur R. mouth MTY     1 imm fem banded; photo’d (above) but not seen in field ]
H 10/20/01     Big Sur R. mouth MTY     1 im male in headlands

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