Since neither Mark Catesby (1663-1749), Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), nor John James udubon laid eyes on Bachman’s warbler, it must be assumed that Bachman’s warbler was already scarce when John Bachman (1790-1874) first discovered the bird for science. According to Bachman, Bachman’s warbler was “a lively active bird, gliding among the branches of thick bushes, occasionally mounting on the wing and seizing insects in the air in the manner of a Flycatcher. It was an old female that had to all appearance just reared a brood of young.” Just as scarce as the bird is the plant that appears with Bachman’s warbler in Birds of America.
Audubon placed Bachman’s warbler with a drawing Maria Bachman produced of Gordonia pubescens. Audubon described Gordonia pubescens as a tree having a maximum height of about 15 feet and being specific to Georgia. Like Bachman’s warbler, the tree is no longer found in the wild. Although unlike Bachman’s warbler, Gordonia pubescens was saved from extinction by William Bartram (1739-1823) who cultivated the tree in his garden near Philadelphia. The taxonomic name for Gordonia pubescens has since been changed to Franklinia alatamaha. The epithet is in reference to the river near which Bartram discovered the plant and collected specimens for his garden.
The last Bachman’s warbler listed on Cornell’s e-Bird system occurred on April 5, 1962 (see eBird Checklist S7975686). Dennis Forsythe and others sighted the bird on the coast of South Carolina in the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge. Bachman’s warbler was declared officially extinct in 2023.