ML112769811

Age and sex

Immature Unknown sex - X

Media notes

good view, showing short bill, pale upperwing fringing, pale upperparts and underparts, and dark tail with white outer tail feathers

Observation details

**rare; very pale juv, photographed; first seen in brief (2-3 seconds in binocular) view as it looked out over the parking lot near the restrooms: I noticed the whitish underparts with at most the faintest yellow wash on the belly, gray upperparts, and dark ear patch and thought I might be on a Gray Kingbird. I had not seen the bill or tail particularly well, but the overall coloration and shape seemed right for Gray and I knew it wasn't an Eastern (the only expected Tyrannus here). I got word out via the Bristol County alert group as a possible Gray Kingbird. Thankfully, I did not have to wait too long and it reappeared and made a long flight overhead, over the parking lot, and then back to the thickets, which is where all the below images were taken except the hovering one. When I finally refound it it was clearly “just” a dull juvenile Western Kingbird, still a new species for the hotspot and an overdue vagrant here. Seen well on three other occasions, including several hovering flights with tail spread, showing black, squared-off tail with prominent white on outer rectrices. Gray upperparts with broad pale edging on coverts confirm age as hatch-year. Later it must have moved south down the island, since Bev King came and we did not relocate it until about 8:35 when it made a high flyover pass at Sumac Thicket (seen also by Bev and Marcus Hunt). Not seen thereafter, but probably still on Island. It seemed to be perching mid-height in low bushes (not prominently at the tops) and hunting in hovering flights. My camera rig has not been great lately, especially autofocus in flight, so I was thrilled to be able to get decent and easily identifiable flight shots.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

ISO

800

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/2500 sec

Dimensions

2381 pixels x 1359 pixels

Original file size

1.25 MB