ML302525921

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

found just after sunrise in the large oak tree just NW of the Rice Wellness Center swimming pool. It was associating with a small group of Yellow Warblers and gnatcatchers. I first noticed it because it was flitting around in a very agitated way, somewhat like a kinglet. This caught my attention because this is way too early for a kinglet. The bird was flicking its wings a lot as well as occasionally flicking its tail. However, in all respects, it was a vireo. When I finally got a look of it in my binoculars, the first thing I noticed was that it had an eyeline: gray-green face with a pale eyeline, with little or no eye-ring detectable. The eye was dark and the bill was quite large, with a noticeable hook on the upper mandible. Bill was gray, but lower mandible was pale, almost a slight flesh colored. Undersides were dull-colored, with a wash of yellow on the flanks, undertail coverts, lower belly and upper chest; central belly was dull off-white; upper parts were dull green-yellow; there was one very dull whitish wingbar; tail was relatively long (proportionately longer than yellow-green, red-eyed, warbling, philadelphia). Eyeline, bill coloration, dull wingbar eliminate Hutton's Vireo. Lack of white eye, eyeline with no spectacles, and very active, agitated, behavior eliminates White-eyed. The bird sang once. It sounded like Bell's Vireo, but for some reason it was at a much lower amplitude than I am used to for Bell's Vireo. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3778/9535869700_2cf0ae3d0a_m.jpg

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P520

ISO

200

Focal length

160.5 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.5

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

4896 pixels x 3672 pixels

Original file size

3.7 MB