So, in honor of John James Audubon's 227th birthday, we thought it would be fun to shine the spotlight on the spring migration of his namesake bird, the Audubon's Warbler. Turns out it's not quite as easy as all that. For starters, some time ago, the western Audubon's Warbler was "combined" with the eastern Myrtle Warbler under the name Yellow-rumped Warbler. Nonetheless, there are people who still talk about them separately, as their geographic differences are still noticeable. Here in California, both "kinds" of Yellow-rumped Warblers winter here, although the Mertyle-type tends to stick more to the coast and head much further north in the spring to northern Canada and Alaska, whereas the Audubon-type tends keeps it a little closer to home in the spring, heading to the Pacific Northwest and Canada, mostly on the western side of the continent. But, for all intents and purposes, we're talking about the same bird, and this writer would be hard-pressed to tell the difference. The upshot is that most Yellow-rumped Warblers are going to be heading out to breeding territory by late-April and early-May.