Vireo maybe? ID help please.

This little fellow appeared in a tree alongside the Camana Bay Shopping Center in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands I liked the look of the blowing wind ruffling his feathers and I thought that the image was worth posting. However, just as I was about to post it in the Avian Gallery, I realized that my initial impression that it was a Yucatan Vireo (Vireo magister) or possibly a Black-whiskered Vireo (Vireo altiloquus) just didn’t fit with that distinctive white tail and black stripe. I began to wonder if even the beak shape was right. I went to several guidebooks but made no progress. Anyone have some suggestions?

Can't help with the ID, but it's a nice shot!

Steve,

This is a Palm Warbler unless there is some other warbler species on Grand Cayman that I am not aware of.

Nice image.

Drew

I think there is far too much striping on the chest for a Yucatan Vireo. The bill is a bit too small as well. (I've got exactly one Yucatan Vireo, so take this with a large dose of salt...)

I'd also seriously consider a Palm Warbler, except that the coloration is the Western race, and I sure wouldn’t expect the Western race in the Caymans. Did it wag its tail up and down all the time? Best behavioral cue I know for Palm Warbler...

Nice photo, though.

Palm warbler. The dull western palm warblers are far more common in winter in Florida than the eastern race; I would expect the same to be true of birds wintering in the Caribbean.

Steve,

I've taken images of Palm Warblers on several of the island in the Caribbean, most of the ones I saw were the western race. I suspect that is because when I have been in the Caribbean it has been winter.

Excellent. Thank you all. Your comments are very helpful and very interesting! The guidebook that I have been using most (Bradley and Rey-Millet, “Birds of the Cayman Islands”, Revised Ed., 1995) describes this bird as having a “bright yellow throat”. Bond, in “Birds of the West Indies”, 5th ed. 1993, has a description much more closely matching this image. Bond also mentions the eastern “Yellow Palm Warbler” as having been observed in the Bahamas. So, these two local guidebooks support the presence of Western and Yellow Palm Warblers in Grand Cayman with the appearance of the bird in this image being that of the Western Palm Warbler as you all mention. Interestingly, pretty well all the references I consulted (including the usual North American references) mention that this bird likes to wag his tail (as Jim alludes to above). I did not notice it at the time. I have a sequence of about 30 images spread over two minutes but the tail is always down. Could be that he is a very fast wagger....or a very slow one!