Who am I

 It's not often that you randomly come across something you've never seen before, but a couple days ago saw a huge passerine movement through Michigan.  Unfortunately I couldn't be out much that morning, but it was still active in the afternoon in Riverview.  One of the birds I saw was a very dark warbler.

It's missing most of the tail.  In the field it clearly had a yellow rump, which is suggested in the top pic.  I think it's a Yellow-rumped Warbler mostly still in juvenile plumage.  It felt really early for Yellow-rumps but Riverview is a good place for them.  Palm also has a yellow rump, but I doubt would have such strong wingbars?  The next pic is a clear Yellow-rump, though these birds were outnumbered by Palms by 10 or 20 to one.

There was also a Bay-breast on the ground.  This one did have a smidge of bay along the flanks, though it was a lot more visible when the bird moved up to the trees.

Because the warblers were on the ground, the thrushes would be in the trees right?

There've been loads of Swainson's, and if there's tons of Swainson's then there'll be a few Gray-cheeks as well.  Above is probably my best ever Gray-cheeked pic.

Transitioning to bad pics, here's my first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher of the year.  My settings were all wrong and I badly over-exposed a bird that's very intensely colored.

The next pic is my first Philadelphia Vireo of the year, on this one the settings actually weren't bad, but strong backlighting through green leaves really made the color wonky.  The brightest yellow was right where the throat met the breast, but that was hard to document. 

Finally two decent pics, first a Marsh Wren that surprised me.  You don't hear them sing in the fall.

The Wood-pewees are still singing though.

Little Gull

 It's been a while since I've had a late summer Little Gull.  I got out to the beach fairly late for me and found Will and Lisa already there.  There wasn't a ton moving and when Will followed Tim out to the end of the pier I debated how long I would stay.  But about the time they got to the end a bird appeared trailing a couple Bonaparte's Gulls.  The first thought that went through my mind was, "Why does that tern have a black M on its back?"  Because it's a Little Gull.

I jogged out to the end.

It's a juvie that's still in pretty fresh plumage.  It hugged the river water's edge and we hoped it would come in closer as the wind started shifting the river water closer to the pier but the boat traffic  dispersed the birds.

One montage of the bird showing off that dorsal black M.