ML239250981

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Amazing find earlier today by Jason Barcus and in poor lighting, congrats! I read his list in the early afternoon and decided to take a poke around. After enjoying the Marsh Wrens and Osprey along the main dike I took a left and started making my way along the river. Twice I stopped and helped out families with some bird identification. It's always great to see parents with their young children out in the field, which was the case with the enthusiastic Silva family. When nearing the edge of the refuge property line I encountered a pocket of vocal birds and began listening and looking at them with my bins. While observing a BG Gnatcatcher, out of the corner of my eye I noticed another bird flutter and land on a small branch about 12 feet off the ground. I turned and momentarily found my bins filled with a large empidonmax! Ecstatic and thankful for a full side view, I quickly tried to assess the main features of the bird, which were, large in size, a distinctly flat forehead, strong olive-green back with no hint of grayish coloration, thin white eyering, long projecting primaries, a pair of whitish wing bars, a big broad bill, and a tinge of yellow wash underneath. I then turned my camera on and slowly raised it. To my horror, the camera was on the wrong setting and I could not get a focus on the bird. My heart was hammering away as I fidgeted with the camera and tried focusing again with the right setting, still just a bird blur because of small branches in the foreground, ugh! I knew in order to get a doc shot I was going to have to risk moving, so I slowly angled backwards and thankfully the bird stayed put. My camera is also horrible in low light conditions and there was heavy cloud cover similar to what Jason had earlier. Thankfully the bird was not too deep into the wood line and when I raised my camera again I was mercifully able to gain focus. After my second or third depression of the shutter button the bird lifted from its perch and went up higher into the tree canopy. A few seconds later the bird twice sharply asked for "Peet-Sah", which is a signature vocalization for this species. It then left this second perch and I was not able to relocate it again over the next 10 minutes. Great life bird and I only had to travel 8 miles from my house.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX B700

ISO

400

Focal length

258 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/200 sec

Dimensions

2816 pixels x 2112 pixels

Original file size

2.45 MB