ML243622491
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Found on the Salton Sea (South) CBC by Bob Miller. Accepted by CBRC. Dusky-capped Flycatcher Myiarchus tuberculifer Ramer Lake, Imperial County, California. 21 December 2005. 12:00 am-12:30 pm. This bird was found by Bob Miller on the Salton Sea (south) CBC on December 20. The next day a group of about fifteen people chased it. Todd Easterla relocated the bird in about ten minutes, feeding and calling in some low tamarisks. We watched the bird for about ten minutes before it flew in to the brush. After that everyone left except David Vander Pluym, Adam Searcy, and I. We stayed behind to get photos of the bird. David got good video and I got good digi-scoped photos and a sound recording of its call. We left about fifteen minutes later. Description: Obviously a Myiarchus flycatcher. It seemed small for a Myiarchus, only slightly larger than a Black Phoebe, but the tail was shorter. Back, wings, tail, nape, crown, and auricular medium brown. The rest of the underparts were pale yellow, all the way to the undertail coverts. Throat and upper chest light gray, contrasting with the yellow on the rest of the underparts. The gray on the throat contrasted with the brown auricular. The edgings on the primaries and secondaries were rufous, except at the tips of the feathers. The tertials were edged pale. The greater and median secondary coverts were edged pale brown. None of the tail feathers showed rufous edgings, they all appeared to be worn off. The rufous edgings on the primaries extended only about three quarters of the way down the feathers. One of the secondaries on the right side of the bird was out of place and partially obscuring the rest of the secondaries. All of the flight feathers showed heavy wear. The tail feathers were especially tattered. The primary projection was very short, only three feathers showing past the secondaries. There was only a hint of rufous on the uppertail coverts. The bill was about half the length of the head. Bill, eye, and legs black. Call: The bird gave its distinctive, plaintive, whistled "wheeeeew" call fairly regularly. I managed to get a sound recording of its call. Discussion: All other Myiarchus flycatchers are ruled out by the call, fairly small size, no extensive rufous on the underside of the tail, and rufous on the secondaries. This is the first of three Dusky-capped Flycatcher I saw in southern California in a week, all of which were calling. I have also seen many Dusky-capped Flycatchers in Central America. Optics used: I had a 10x42 Audubon Equinox Binoculars and a 7 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 7900 Digital Camera. I also used David Vander Pluym's 20-65 zoom Spotting Scope. Written a week after the sighting, from memory and from my photos.
Technical information
- Model
- E7900
- ISO
- 50
- Focal length
- 7.8 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/4.8
- Shutter speed
- 5/1474 sec
- Dimensions
- 1410 pixels x 1057 pixels
- Original file size
- 310.82 KB