ML228486951

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Near the end of a long circuit around Talbert Lake I was on the peninsula between the fenced garden and the bandstand when I heard repeated chip calls from near ground level in the weedy fringe of the lake shore. I was at a distance of approximately 50 feet when I heard the calls. The tonal quality of the chips was very like a MacGillivray's chip but a bit flatter, more like a "chit" or even "chich" than a Mac's hard "chik". I heard the chips well enough to believe the source to be a Mac and not something else. I found the source to be a Geothlypis type warbler mousing around low in the weeds and willows. At first glance it looked every bit like the Mac I was expecting - bright yellow underparts, pink legs, heavy pinkish bill, and olive upperparts. Once I came near it it fell silent but continued slowly moving low to the ground within the vegetation. Although only parts of it were visible at any one time, I could see bright yellow coloration running from the breast through the belly to the undertail which readily eliminated a female or immature Common Yellowthroat as a possibility. The first thing that struck me as odd for a Mac was an absence of thick white arcs above and below the eye. Rather it had a thin, nearly continuous white eye ring that was only narrowly broken before and behind the eye. Studying the bird further I noticed that the head did not appear to show any gray color or hooded appearance I expected for a Mac. The crown, face, neck, and nape all were the same olive brown hue as the back and wings. The bird briefly popped up on a low twig providing a full view where I got a decent look at the overall body profile and proportions and noticed the bird was unusually short tailed in appearance. Another feature that struck me as odd for a Mac was the border between the throat and breast. The border between the throat and breast area on this bird was not a Mac's clean arc with gray above and yellow below but irregular and smudgy in appearance. The hue of the smudging across the breast appeared more olive in tone like the sides of the neck and face than cool gray. I also had one or two brief views of the throat area which seemed paler in comparison to the breast band and sides of the neck. My impression in the field was that the throat was of a whitish color. Owing to the skulkiness of the bird and the fact I was looking down at it through intervening vegetation my views of the throat and chin area were unsatisfactory at best. Based on the nearly complete eye ring, smudgy breast band, and short tail projection I quickly suspected it was an immature Mourning Warbler rather than MacGillivray's Warbler. I immediately set about trying to obtain some photographs of the bird. It did pop up into view once more in the thicket. Though the view was strongly back lit it was at a range of 6 or so feet. I had by this time crouched down to get a better eye level view of it so I managed a series of close shots when in view. After perching in view for 10-15 seconds it flew into another thicket and disappeared. I was unable to relocate it. I went home to see if I the pictures could corroborate my visual impression. The pictures reinforced my views from the field but I did notice several additional features I had not seen. My views of the eye ring were always of narrow breaks at the front and rear of the eye but several of the pictures show the eye ring connecting behind the eye. The photos also revealed an indistinct yellow spot in the lores. The throat area appeared yellow - about as yellow as the belly. The breast band appears to have a grayish hue in the photos though it always appeared olive to my eye. My sense in the field was that the breast band separating the yellow throat and breast was continuous across the breast but owing to my limited views of that part of the bird it could have had a narrow gap or break in the middle.

Technical information

Model

E-510

ISO

400

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/400 sec

Dimensions

2600 pixels x 1950 pixels

Original file size

1.81 MB