ML31620571

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

One young male plumaged bird seen at burn, and then nearby, 2 birds at close range associating together. Jordan did a more extensive walk around the burn and saw several more. Confusing plumage. In the spliced video below, the first part shows the same bird as the top photo, and the second part and third part shows the same bird as the bottom photo (the third part of the video is very short). Update: Dennis Paulson helped me learn that spots are apparently fairly common on the back of juvenile WISA - these spots can be seen on the male bird shown in the below video and picture. Dennis thought the other 2 birds I saw might be RNSA juvs. Here are some of Dennis' comments: "I can at least see the back of the bird in question, clearly spotted. Now I’ve just done my homework and looked in Birds of North America. Here is their description of the juvenile Williamson’s: Present primarily Jun–Aug. Innermost primaries (p1 and p2) could be abbreviated (~5–20 mm in length) as in other woodpeckers ( Chapin 1921 , Sibley 1957); although Chapin (Chapin 1921 ) mentions that they are full-length in Sphyrapicus this can be difficult to ascertain and confirmation of inner primary length in Williamson's Sapsucker needed. In other woodpeckers these feathers are replaced before chick fledges from nest cavity. Juvenile Plumage generally resembles Definitive Basic Plumage in both sexes, but juvenile Male lacks glossy appearance, has white throat instead of red, and has more white on nape that sometimes connects with white above eye, has white wedge marks to bases of black back feathers, is more barred on upperparts, wings, and tail, and yellow belly is paler; juvenile Female resembles is still duller and browner, shows more barring throughout, and lacks black on breast. So that’s what you photographed. The juvenile I photographed, some years ago at Loup Loup, didn’t have any of those spots on the back, but apparently they are often present. It’s incredible that there are so few photos of that plumage. I did find that I had photos of one in a file, taken by Gregg Thompson on Colockum Road in 2010. I'm attaching them, and you can see the spots on it are a lot less distinct, but they are there. Great learning experience! Dennis"

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX710 HS

ISO

100

Focal length

4.5 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/4.0

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

2939 pixels x 2448 pixels

Original file size

1.41 MB