ML225899561
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
- Behaviors
- Foraging or eating
- Playback
- Playback not used
Observation details
First reported to Nancy Bither, who confirmed it yesterday 26 January. I don't know when it first was seen. Jeff spotted the bird at the base of a birch where the bird was apparently sunning itself. It remained on or near the ground in the tangle of shrubs here. We did see the bird twice visit a hanging tube feeder and eat black oil sunflower seeds. A small passerine with a conical bill and medium length tail. Bright lime green above and dull (laterally) to bright yellow on throat, breast, and under tail, where richer and more ochre or mustard-colored. Sapphire blue tinge seen on lesser wing coverts and around base of neck. Tail green above and slaty below. The lateral upper tail and rump feathers were narrowly tipped with buff (is this age related?). Eyering pale yellow to cream. Legs and toes dark gray. Bill dark slaty gray on maxilla and part of mandible, which was otherwise paler gray. The gape was obviously yellow and showed as a narrow fold of skin at the corner of the bill. Irides dark brown. This bird frequently twitched its tail in typical Passerina bunting manner, rapidly flicking tail down and to the side in a shallow oval sweep, slightly flicking wings at the same time. Foraged mainly on ground. Photos and video. After review of photos, it is clear the bird has new, green-edged outer primaries and older inner primaries. One of my flight shots also shows the inner secondaries new with green edging on outer web, and worn outer secondaries that are browner. This matches a bird in 1st basic plumage. Such birds are not identifiable to sex according to the literature. This bird is very bright with blue tinges, but a female in this plumage could be similar. There were no obvious blue or red feathers intermixed. It will be interesting to see if those develop in the next months, provided the bird survives and remains here. I still suspect such a bright bird is likely an immature male.
Technical information
- Camera
- Canon 7D
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 44.76 MB