ML218139121

Age and sex

Immature Male - 1

Media notes

Immature male Pine Warbler present since 10 December 2019, when found by Jim Pike, was photographed here by Curtis A. Marantz on 22 March 2020 at the Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery, Huntington Beach, Orange County, Califonria.

Observation details

This was a relatively well-marked, colorful bird on which the predominant colors were yellow, olive, whitish, and sooty. The forehead, crown, back and sides of the neck, back, and scapulars were greenish-olive with just a hint of brown and generally rather plain apart from what appeared to be a few blurry and very indistinct streaks on the back when seen under the best of conditions. The face pattern was characterized by crescents of yellow both above and below each eye that were well-defined and only narrowly broken before and behind the eyes. Connecting the base of the upper mandible with the front edge of the crescent above the eye was a supraloral stripe that was the same yellow color as the crescents, and equally well-defined, yet seemingly somewhat narrower. I was pretty sure the supraloral stripes did not connect across the immediate forehead, but I had a difficult time being certain. The lores were probably about the same shade of dark olive that characterized the auriculars, and this same color extended under the eye to connect with the auriculars, but I cannot now remember if the dark color of the face extended down through the submoustachial region to the malar line or instead if it ended along the lower edge of the moustachial region and thus meeting the bill at the gape. I was more confident, however, that the demarcation between the bright yellow throat and the dark olive-green face was a sharp one that continued out to the corners of the throat. The throat and breast were bright yellow and unmarked, but the sides had blurry streaks of olive on a yellow background. I failed to notice just how far down the underparts the yellow extended, but the belly and undertail coverts were mostly a dull whitish color, and the flanks were washed subtly washed with buff or light brownish, but they did not appear to be streaked. A narrow, black “V” on the underside of the tail at the base demarcated the whitish undertail-coverts from the similarly whitish inner-best of the outer rectrices that created a pattern of elongate tail-spots. I did notice darker outer-webs on these feathers that framed the whitish in the center of the tail, and I thought there was a narrow band across the weakly notched tip, but I thought the latter reflected the dark central-feathers being slightly shorter than outer feathers that were white to the tips of their inner webs. Returning to the upperparts, I thought the crown, back, and scapulars were all about the same shade of olive, but I never clearly saw the rump or uppertail coverts, and I cannot now remember anything about the upperside of the tail beyond noting that it did not appear to contrast conspicuously with the wings. On the wings, I noted two whitish wingbars that represented relatively narrow tips to greater and median coverts that had sooty to blackish bases. It was difficult to see much detail on the median coverts internal of the white tips, but the greater coverts clearly had dark centers, narrow edges of grayish to olive-gray, and whitish tips, so there was a row of fine stripes between the wingbars. I did not clearly see the primary coverts or if there were molt limits in the secondary coverts. The remiges all appeared to be sooty to dusky-brown in color with narrow fringes that appeared to be dull buff to grayish-olive, and which created a finely striped pattern that did not appear to be any more obvious on the innermost secondaries, but as alluded to above, I failed to study carefully the inner secondaries, wingtips, and the upperside of the tail. My impression was that the bill was entirely blackish, but I could easily have overlooked paler markings, and I noted only that the eyes were dark. I did note that the uppersides of the legs were dusky-brownish in color, but when seen once from below, I thought the undersides of the legs were paler and possibly fleshy. I cannot now remember anything about the color of the feet.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

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

ISO

320

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/2000 sec

Dimensions

3106 pixels x 1969 pixels

Original file size

8.81 MB