ML149232261

Age and sex

Unknown age, Female - X

Media notes

This female Black-throated Green warbler was found earlier in the day by Mark and Janet Scheel and photographed there by Curtis A. Marantz on 24 March 2019 at Alondra Community Regional Park, Lawndale, Los Angeles County, California.

Observation details

This bird appeared somewhat smaller and maybe slightly shorter-tailed than a Yellow-rumped Warbler that was seen in direct comparison. The bill was slim and relatively short, in that it would have extended backward on the face to a point at or a little behind the eye. Further apparent was a sloping forehead and a gently rounded crown, a neck that was short and inconspicuous, and a body that was relatively slim. I saw this bird mostly from below, so I was able to get only an impression that the primary projection was roughly half the length of the exposed secondaries, but I was more confident that the wingtips reached right about to the tips of the undertail coverts. The tail was about as long as the body without the head, if not slightly longer, and it appeared to be parallel-sided and with a jagged if not square tip. The legs were slim but unremarkable in both their length and mass. This bird’s plumage patterns and coloration were similar to those of a female Townsend’s Warbler. The crown and what I could see of the back and scapulars were green and seemingly unmarked. I was unable to determine the precise shade of green, yet I suspect it appeared darker than it really was, given that I saw this bird exclusively from below and in the shade. The face was mostly bright yellow with a bold and relatively broad supercilium that extended through the supraloral region, over the eye, and back along the upper edge of the auriculars to their terminus and seemingly beyond. Demarcating the lower edge of the supercilium was a dark green postocular-stripe that extended across the upper edge of the auriculars from the eye to their terminus, and possibly even further, seemingly demarcating the yellow supercilium from the same color on the side of the neck behind the auriculars. I was less sure if the auriculars were framed below by the same green that characterized the postocular stripe, or about the color on the center of the auriculars. My photos show a short extension of this line before the eye, but it does not appear to connect with the bill. The lower part of the face was again yellow back through the submoustachial region and curving around under the auriculars to connect with the yellow on the side of the neck to demarcate their rear edge. This bird’s face had a scruffy appearance that complicated my determination of the finer details of the pattern. Potentially reflecting this scruffiness, I did not see an obvious malar-stripe on this bird, on which the chin and at much of the throat were more conspicuously yellow than I usually associate with females of this species. Despite the lack of an obvious malar-stripe, this bird had a wedge of dusky gray to dull blackish on either side of the throat that did not appear to extend across the center. Below the yellow throat, the breast, belly, sides, flanks, and undertail coverts were creamy-white almost in their entirety. I did however note two rows of somewhat blurry stripes of dark gray to dull blackish running along the flanks on either side, and also a broken band of yellow on either side of the vent. The underside of the tail was mostly a dull whitish in color, albeit with dark borders on either side that did not appear to continue across the tips of the feathers. The mantle was dull green, and I think this same color extended through the scapulars, but the wings contrasted as darker and more blackish. I further noted white fringes that extended straight across the tips of the greater and median coverts to produce two wingbars, with the upper bar shifted forward on the wing relative to the longer, lower bar. I was also able to see that the bases of the greater coverts were quite blackish and I noted narrow edges of light gray to the remiges that created a finely striped pattern on the rear part of the wing, but I was unable to see if this pattern differed on the primaries and secondaries. The bill and legs appeared to be black, and the eyes were dark.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

800

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

1508 pixels x 1034 pixels

Original file size

2.73 MB