Location Green Lawn cemetery (the Pit), Columbus, OH
This was definitely one of the more satisfying identifications of my career, and it was a collaborative effort. An older lady was looking at it with me. At first I just narrowed it down to a Warbling Vireo, but she wasn't satisfied with that. (I wasn't either really, but I couldn't come up with anything else.)
With more careful observation, I noticed the spring yellow on the throat and undertail, and she agreed. Sometimes it pays to be very careful and have a good field guide -- and carefully look at what the field guide is showing. I have a feeling that many of these are misidentified because they're a bit tricky and people just write them off as a different vireo.
I had a similar experience a few years later at Magee Marsh. Because of this experience, I was able to see that it was this bird and suggest it to some others nearby, and they were like, yeah, that's it! (In other words, I was like, the hero expert guy. But I never would have gotten there without the persistence of the old lady.)
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