ML216186071

Age and sex

Adult Male - 1

Observation details

A singing male seen in trees bordering field edge. Bright yellow over entire underparts, with slight green tinge ventrally and slightly paler under tail coverts. Sharply pointed black bill and distinct black lores continuing in point slightly behind eye. Forehead and throat pure, glowing, bright lemon yellow. Back greenish. Wings grayish with two white wing bars. Tail dark gray with with subterminal spots in at least outer rectrices. Song, barely audible to me and then only at very close range, was a sibilant, ringing introductory note (bzzz) followed by spitting sort of rapid trill (or rattle). The bird sang from poplars and an oak, on perches that were mid-height in these trees (perch heights 15' to 30'+ for singing). I watched the bird forage for caterpillars, which it sometimes found on the undersides of leaves, the bird hanging sideways, vertically with head down, or upside down to capture these. One captured on a small poplar was a green larva about the same shade as the leaves. This is a very rare bird in Kennebec Co. The habitat that this migrant chose was very much like what I expect breeding birds to use. The bird was initially found by Casey Hynes earlier in the morning and about 300+m to the west around Viles Pond. Clearly this bird had moved considerable distance and was not settled, even though singing vigorously and frequently.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

1000

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

2400 pixels x 1601 pixels

Original file size

2.56 MB