ML132900271
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
While looking at the Tropical Kingbird I spotted a Spizella when it flew from the ground up into a pine tree adjacent to one of the fairways. This bird then moved to an adjacent tree before it dropped to the ground to forage. After a short time, it again flew up into a tree and eventually if flew off and landed on the ground in another part of the course. I once heard this bird give a clear, ¿seeep¿ note that was not quite as sharp as the call of a Chipping Sparrow. This was a conspicuously small, compact sparrow with a conical bill, a rounded head, an inconspicuous neck and a plump body, and a slim tail that was about as long as the body and with what appeared to be pointed rectrices and a notched tip. This bird had a medium-brown crown with fine, dark streaking and a moderately conspicuous median-stripe. The darker crown was demarcated below by a buffy supercilium and then brown auriculars that were bordered above by a relatively weak postocular-stripe and a somewhat bolder, dark moustachial-stripe. At first, I thought the lores were dark, but I later concluded that they were washed with medium-brown but without the dark eyeline of a Chipping Sparrow. The head and back were demarcated by a moderately conspicuous gray collar, behind with the back was sandy-brown with blackish streaks. I never did see the rump, but the upperside of the tail was dark brown with paler fringes to rectrices that had a striped appearance. The wings combined dark centers with paler fringes to create a bold and well-defined pattern. I thought I detected two, whitish wingbars, but also buffy edges to the greater coverts and remiges, which produced a striped pattern both between the wingbars and on the rear part of the wing. I never did see clearly the inner secondaries or the wingtips. I cannot now recall if there was a dark malar-stripe, but I did think the underparts were pale and essentially unmarked. Unfortunately, I cannot now recall much more about the patterns on this bird, on which the bill was fleshy basally but apparently with a darker culmen and with dark eyes.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D
- Lens
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM
- ISO
- 400
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/8.0
- Shutter speed
- 1/2500 sec
- Dimensions
- 1793 pixels x 1217 pixels
- Original file size
- 1.96 MB