This Caruso is a male Yellow Warbler, a bird that we hear singing now. He’s usually much easier to hear than to see and therein lies the problem in identifying him.
My best guide, the Centennial Peterson Guide, says his song sounds like “tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-titi-wee” or “weet weet weet tsee-tsee wew.” But, my Sibley Guide says it’s “sweet sweet sweet ti ti ti to soo” or “swee swee swee ti ti ti swee.”
That’s not to mention my old National Geographic Birds Guide and the current Cornell Lab of Ornithology on-line Guide, which have the gall to tell me that he’s actually bragging in English: “sweet sweet sweet I’m so sweet.” This is news to me. What’s a mediocre birder to do? None of those descriptions sounds exactly like what I’ve been hearing.
However, once we mediocre birders get a glimpse of him and see his male chestnut streaks, we’ll probably say: “It’s a male Yellow Warbler!” Even those who just like hearing and seeing birds likely will look and say something like: “It’s an almost all-yellow little bird singing his heart out!” Archive images used. (Brooklin Maine).