ML132889211

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

After we missed the bird above the spring just before we arrived, we managed to relocate it repeatedly around the main spring, where it foraged actively along the trunks and branches in the lower parts of the cottonwoods all around the spring. Once or twice I also heard a siskin-like "chu-wee" call given by this bird. This was a small but striking bird with a long tail that was often fanned and held upward as the bird moved about the trunks. I noted the slim, short bill and that the crown had a somewhat peaked appearance on a head that was unremarkable in size. The body was slim and elongate and the neck was more conspicuous than on some warblers. I never noted the primary projection, but I did think the wingtips reached to about the tips of undertail coverts that appeared to be rounded. I failed to note the precise length of the tail relative to the body, but my guess is that it was about as long as the head and body combined. I did not think the legs or feet were remarkable in either their length of mass. The plumage patterns were a striking combination of black (or blackish-brown in the case of the remiges), a bright scarlet-red, white, and dingy grayish. The head, neck, and upperparts were almost entirely black in color, but I did notice a narrow crescent of white under each eye. The entirely white and unmarked secondary coverts formed a broad panel across the upper part of the wing that contrasted sharply with the black of upperparts and the primary coverts, but when seen well, the remiges appeared to have a brownish cast even though I never could see the secondaries well enough to determine if they had paler fringes. The tail was mostly black centrally, but the outer three pairs of rectrices were extensively white. In the field, I thought the outermost two pairs were effectively white in their entirety, but my photographs show that both had some black on the inner web basally. The third pair of rectrices were white across about the distal half, but the base was black and this seemed more extensive on the inner webs as seen in my photos. Others thought the dark parts of the rectrices were tinged brownish like the remiges, but I never could see this. The throat, sides, and flanks were solidly black, but the center of the breast and belly were a somewhat duller and maybe less crimson shade of red than I often associate with wintering birds. The red faded to dingy gray on the center of the belly just before the insertion points of the legs, behind which the vent region and undertail coverts were dingy gray with blackish mottling that I think represented the centers of these feathers. The bill, legs, and feet appeared to be uniformly black, and my views of the eyes were insufficient to distinguish the color from the black plumage that characterized the rest of the head.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

1250

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/400 sec

Dimensions

3325 pixels x 2695 pixels

Original file size

9.27 MB