ML142067971

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Tags

In-hand

Observation details

I first spotted this bird as the sun was coming up and I was opening nets out towards the Tip itself. The bird was on the sand and then hopped up into a small shrub about 30 ft from me with the sunlight behind me giving some decent lighting on the bird. What struck me right away was a small smudge of yellowish at the front edge (wrist) in the wing and the overall somewhat washed out appearance of the bird especially around the face. I got a good look at the bird for over a minute as it sat in the shrub in the sun before flying inland and right towards net 4. I jogged back down the path and arrived at net 4 to find the bird in the net and proceeded to remove it and immediately returned with it back to the lab. The BIC (Fergus Nichol) held the bird while I immediately got some photos of it and then we started looking at field guides to see what species it was. Eventually, we determined it was a Cassin's Sparrow based on the diagnostic plain face and overall appearance along with distinct but subtle banding across the tail. It was deemed to be an AHY bird based on some replacement of greater coverts and the shape and condition of the retained rectrices with obvious molt occurring. The sex was not determined.

Technical information

Model

C750UZ

ISO

50

Focal length

6.3 mm

Flash

Flash fired

f-stop

f/2.8

Shutter speed

1/650 sec

Dimensions

2288 pixels x 1712 pixels

Original file size

826.69 KB