ML114765211

Age and sex

Juvenile, Unknown sex - X

Observation details

I waited for the bird for 2.5 hrs. with no luck. As I was driving back home about 12:30 pm, and reached the outskirts of Lompoc, I got a call from Brad Hines: "COME BACK!". I drove 80 mph back to Ocean Beach, out to the group & looked through the good scopes provided by Brad S., Brad H., & Wes F. I saw a distant flock of Marbled Godwits & with them was one smaller, grayer individual. It was a couple inches shorter than the surrounding Marbled Godwits. Most noticeable was a pronounced white supercilium that extended back beyond the eye, a long bill slightly upturned with a pink base and black tip. The bird's overall impression was of a gray and black-and-white godwit, with no cinnamon tones characteristic of a Marbled Godwit. Underparts were gray, back was crisply speckled with black and white, which leads me to believe it was a juvenile bird. This individual was hidden in the flock and I never saw it fly . It preened a lot while I watched it, and I was hoping to see the tail pattern or the back pattern through the scope, but I never did. The flock remained there for 12 minutes, but I saw the Bar-tailed for no more than 5 minutes, before the whole group of birds flushed and took off, heading south for the open beach/dunes. I never saw it again, although I understand it was seen later in the afternoon. I am attaching Brad Hines' photo of the bird. An amazing find by Brad Hines!

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P900

ISO

100

Focal length

714 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

2.97 MB