ML280786561

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - 1

Media notes

A continuing adult Swamp Sparrow, initially found by Adrian Hinkle on 11 November 2020, and here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 12 November 2020 at Lake Tamarisk, Desert Center, Riverside County, California.

Observation details

We initially found the continuing sparrow moving furtively in the small stand of cattails below the eucalyptus tree along the northeastern shore of the lake, but it soon moved south to the larger stand and began giving sharp, phoebe-like chips. It still took some time to get a good view of the bird, but it eventually came out and began foraging in the grass right along the edge of the sedges before returning to the denser vegetation. Later in our visit we returned to this site and again saw the sparrow foraging in the open along the edge of the cattails and sedges. I took a number of photos and observed this bird, but I did not spend all that long studying it carefully, so my description is more superficial than would have been the case had I not concentrated on getting photos. This was a relatively small sparrow with a conical bill, a gently sloping forehead and weakly rounded crown on a head of unremarkable size, a short and inconspicuous neck, and a plump body. I failed to notice the primary projection or the placement of the wingtips relative to the tail, yet I noted that the tail was relatively long, slim, and parallel-sided. I cannot recall anything about the legs or feet, which were largely obscured by the grass in which the bird was foraging. This was a relatively well-marked sparrow with distinctly rufous wings. The crown appeared in the field to be quite dark and with at least some suggestion of a paler median-stripe at least on the forehead, but my photos show that it was distinctly rufous with darker streaks. Demarcating the dark cap was a broad and relatively well-defined supercilium that was generally light to medium-gray, but with a yellowish or yellowish-olive cast in the supraloral region. I think the lores were generally pale, but I am now having a hard time remembering this clearly. The warm-brown auriculars contrasted conspicuously with the supercilium and the lower part of the face, but I did not think there was much in the way of darker borders above or below. The submoustachial region was again gray, the throat was pale gray to whitish, and the two were demarcated by a dark malar-stripe that was not overly conspicuous. Given that this bird was foraging in the grass, I had a hard time seeing the underparts well, but what I did see was light to medium-gray and with some indistinct streaking at least at the sides of the breast, and maybe also a brownish cast to the flanks, but in general, the underparts were not heavily marked. Demarcating the dark cap and the brownish auriculars was a broad band of medium-gray on the side of the neck that was reminiscent of that of a Clay-colored Sparrow albeit less conspicuous. The back was a warm, yellowish-brown with black, black streaks. The wings contrasted as darker and more rufescent, maybe approaching rufous-chestnut, but also with dark centers to the greater covets that appeared like a row of narrow stripes across the middle part of the wing. My views of the remiges were not as good, but my recollection is that they too were edged with rufous-chestnut, though potentially with a different pattern on the innermost secondaries. I saw the upperside of the tail at least briefly, yet I failed to really notice the pattern or coloration beyond noting that it was dark and not contrasting strongly with the wings. I think the bill was at least relatively dark, but I could easily have missed a paler lower mandible, and my impression that the eyes were dark is about equally strong, but I have no recollection noting in the field the color of the legs or feet, but my photos show them to be a dark pinkish color.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

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

ISO

320

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/2000 sec

Dimensions

2244 pixels x 1479 pixels

Original file size

5.39 MB