ML132891621

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

My understanding is that Dave Goodward found this bird in the undergrowth on the "Piney Knoll" at Central Park earlier this morning and this is where we eventually managed to see it. Although I had been checking this spot earlier my attention was drawn away by calls alerting me to the presence of other interesting birds elsewhere in the park. It was only after we had spent an extended period of time chasing around an uncooperative waterthrush that we returned to this site and saw the warbler. This bird also was not overly cooperative, but with some effort, we did manage to see it relatively well and I was able to get a single photo before the warbler disappeared. While I had it in view this bird remained quite low, at times foraging on the ground under some juniper shrubs, but it was often obscured by vegetation and it moved about enough to be difficult to follow amid the dense vegetation. I heard from this bird only a soft, "tsit, tsit" that presumably represented a flight-call. This was a medium-sized warbler that seemed to be both a little larger and plumper than the Wilson's Warblers that were in the same area. I also thought its bill was larger and stouter than those of the more common species, and that the tail was maybe not quite as long. My views of this bird were sufficiently brief that I was able to form impressions about its size, shape, and plumage patterns, but again, seeing the finer details was difficult. Although Dave had identified this bird as a female, when others saw it they were thinking it was a male, no doubt as a result of its having a partial hood. I too noted that the forehead and face were a deep, lemon-yellow color that contrasted conspicuously with a well-defined hood that was formed by dusky if not blackish feathers on the crown and the back and sides of the neck, which produced in a pattern that was similar to that of a male of this species (even though I did not think the feathers were truly black or the hood quite as extensive). I further noted that there was a somewhat diffuse line of dusky coloration connecting the bill and the eye and I also noted that the throat and breast were dingy, but still yellow as opposed to being solidly black as I would have expected on an adult male of this species. I noted that the upperparts were relatively uniform in appearance, that this bird lacked wingbars, and that the overall color of the upperparts was a somewhat dingier shade of olive-green versus the brighter lime-green of the Wilson's Warblers. This bird also showed quite a bit of white in the outer two or three pairs of rectrices, but my impression was that the white was more extensive on the outer feathers than on the inner ones, so the effect was that of large white ¿corners¿ as opposed to white edges like those of a junco. My views of the underparts were incomplete, but as noted above, I thought the throat and breast were yellow with some dinginess, but no black, and that the belly and flanks were yellow and essentially unmarked, but I never did see the undertail coverts or the underside of the tail. I was quite sure that the bill and eyes appeared to be black, but I have only a vague recollection that the legs were pale.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

2500

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1250 sec

Dimensions

1860 pixels x 1513 pixels

Original file size

3.18 MB