What Bird Is That Forum

I saw this bird today at Garret Mountain Reservation in Passaic County, NJ. Merlin identifies all 3 pictures as a black & white warbler. I think its more likely a brown creeper, and I'm fairly certain in the field, it was a brownish color. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Unless I'm missing something, it looks good for Black-and-White Warbler to me. A Brown Creeper would have a much more curved bill.

I'm seeing too much brown in it and the bill looks too curved for a warbler.

I think the coloring could be an artifact of the photo/lighting.

In the second photo, you can see spots on the underside of the tail, which is consistent with the B/W Warbler.

lonesome55dove wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 6:22 pm In the second photo, you can see spots on the underside of the tail, which is consistent with the B/W Warbler.

Maybe you can.

I think the underside looks too clean for B&W.

I vote black and white warbler with those wing bars

For what it's worth, Google Lens can't seem to make up it's mind on this set of photos. It's identified some shots as B&W Warbler and others as Brown Creeper. It's even identified the same photo as both species depending on the crop used. I thought the last shot looked Brown Creeperish myself, but like Google Lens, I'm not convinced.

Macaulay has photos of immature B&Ws with poorly defined markings. Some have varying degrees of brownish wash on their remaining juvenile feathers.

AAB points out BRCR have significantly longer tails and usually use them as props, while B&W don't use tails as supports. Indeed, during a quick scan ever photo I saw of a BRCR showed it using its tail as a prop. The subject bird doesn't do that.

I'm switching teams to B&W.

FWIW I see creepers regularly and have only ever seen a couple B&W. At first blush I thought BRCR fit fine albeit in a weird molt phase, 10 min later think I'm changing my vote too. I wish we had a better angle on the bill. As we've been taught structure trumps color any day - BRCR bills are noticeably curved like appears in the 3rd photo, on B&W as far as I know only the upper mandible has the curve to it but can appear more pronounced depending on angle. The point about the tail being too short for BRCR is correct but I initially attributed that to moulting too. The point on posture is also valid. The two other things that definitely point B&W are the center crown stripe obviously starting to grow in (BRCR only have the two eye stripes) and the location of the two wing bars which match location for B&W exactly.

I found one more picture if it helps..

Definitely helps; Brown Creepers have a clean breast/belly.

lonesome55dove wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2026 8:31 pm Definitely helps; Brown Creepers have a clean breast/belly.

Yeah, the upper breast / flank streaks are B&W all the way.

Black and white

Another vote for Black-and-White Warbler for reasons mentioned - wing markings, spotted white undertail coverts and relatively short tail.

Worn female Black-and-white Warbler.