ML24069971

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Continuing Winter Wren at Bob Jones Trail under the bridge at San Luis Bay Dr., San Luis Obispo County, CA

Observation details

Continuing wintering bird. I heard the wren vocalizing around 10:05 AM when I returned to the bridge having looked for it earlier at 8:00 for about 45 minutes but there was no sign of it early in the morning. I immediately heard it calling when I walked down to the edge of the creek under the bridge, but it was on the opposite side somewhere. It gave high, thin double-chip notes of a higher quality than the "chimp" call of Pacific Wren which sounds more like Wilson's Warbler to me. I had difficulty locating the bird at first because I couldn't see movement among the rocks on bank of the creek although the bird was constantly calling. I eventually spotted the small wren picking at leaves and moving in and out of the rocks. It was a ruddy brown color on the back with a few noticeable white spots around the shoulder, and contrastingly paler on the throat and upper breast. My first impression was that it was buffy or almost orangey color below at the sides of the face and neck. This became mottled brown on the lower underparts. It showed a pale supercilium. Long, thin bill that was pale at the base. The throat appeared whitish at times. It had pale barring along the wings. Quite different in color from the dark brown of Pacific Wren. It also showed a very short cocked tail. Viewing time was approx. 10 minutes. I walked down into the creek and obtained a couple of photos.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

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

ISO

3200

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

2000 pixels x 1333 pixels

Original file size

1.7 MB