ML256534951
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Continuing from this afternoon, excellent find by Max Nootbaar (who was out specifically looking for this species, no less!) Spotted before I had stopped the car, and watched for the next half l hour in the scope. Viewed from the circle on the west end of Summit Ridge Trail, where it made good use of the numerous exposed snags around the circle. Caught several large insects after performing long sallying flights, at least one large beetle and perhaps a cicada. Bumped from perch by a robin once, but quickly returned and used the same grove of trees until it flew off towards the south. Many photos and some video. Large contopus, relatively short-tailed with exaggeratedly long primaries that reached more than halfway down the tail, large-headed and broad billed, with orange lower mandible. Dull olive-gray in coloration, with paler whitish stripe from throat to vent. Silent. I liked this bird for an adult, it showed little orange in the gape, and the vest pattern was diffuse and splotchy, and not cleanly demarcated with the white belly and upper breast. Funnily enough, Max and I had one of these at the exact same location two years ago (although I didn’t see it on the same snag, which tonight was occupied by a Red-bellied Woodpecker) almost to the day (August 7 vs 8), which at the time represented the earliest record of the species in the Virginia Piedmont, nearly two weeks earlier than the 21 August early date listed by the Gold Book. Of course, hard to say if it’s the same bird or not, but I hope this continues to be a reliable site for the species.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D Mark II
- Lens
- EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
- ISO
- 2000
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/5.6
- Shutter speed
- 1/640 sec
- Dimensions
- 1209 pixels x 806 pixels
- Original file size
- 198.31 KB