ML132880251

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

This bird was both larger and heavier-bodied than the other warblers foraging in the same trees, and it had a relatively short tail and a conspicuously large bill that tapered from a base that was heavy for a warbler to a sharply pointed tip along a slightly decurved culmen. The crown was rounded and the head seemed proportionately large. I further thought the neck was relatively short, stocky, and generally inconspicuous, which when combined with the plump, full-chested body contributed to this bird's plump appearance. I was clearly able to see that the wingtips fell well short of the tips of the undertail coverts, and I estimated that the tail was about as long as the body without the head, which is short for a warbler. The tail was also relatively broad and weakly double-rounded at the tip. The undertail coverts reached nearly to the tip of the tail, which no doubt contributed to its short appearance. This was a brightly colored and strikingly patterned bird, yet its colors were relatively dull for a Prothonotary Warbler. As far as I could determine, the head was a bright, lime-green to yellowish-green from the forehead back across the crown to the nape and the back of the neck. I detected no apparent contrast between the shade of green on the crown and nape, and that of the back and scapulars. This same shade of green also extended down through the face to cover the submoustachial and auricular regions, but the face was unmarked apart from the blending in what appeared to be the submoustachial region of the green of the face into the bright, chrome-yellow of the throat and breast. Whereas the back and scapulars were uniformly green, the wings were an odd shade of bluish-gray, if not grayish-blue, with no suggestion of wingbars or other obvious markings. The dark inner-webs of the inner secondaries contrasted with fringes on the outer webs that were similar in color to the rest of the wing, but apart from this, I did not see any obvious contrast on the wings. I saw the upperside of the tail only briefly, when I was able to note little more than that its coloration and pattern were similar to those of the remiges. Contrasting sharply with the green and blue tones of the upperparts, the underparts were a bright chrome-yellow (basically golden-yellow with just a trace of orange) from the chin down through the throat and across the breast and sides. The yellow blended smoothly to the white of the belly, rear flanks, and undertail coverts near the junction of the breast and belly, so the region behind the insertion points of the legs was snowy-white and effectively unmarked. The underside of the tail showed a sharp contrast between white internally and a relatively broad, black frame that extended up the outer edges and across the tip of the tail. The distal edge of the white on the underside of the tail was rounded slightly at the corners and it extended just beyond the tips of the longest undertail-coverts. I had a difficult time determining the color of the bill, but it seemed to be pale, and maybe even fleshy when seen from below. I noted only that the beady eyes stood out as quite dark against the otherwise plain, yellowish-green face. The legs appeared to be blackish, if not truly black, but I am not sure I ever saw the feet clearly.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 30D

ISO

200

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

1188 pixels x 969 pixels

Original file size

882.17 KB