ML31579221

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

For Dean Schaff, who emailed me the sighting today: "I was on Lincoln looking for the YCNH when these two larger birds landed in a bare tree about 100 yards down the path. I thought they were jays, but then thought I don't think we have jays here and with Binoculars there was no blue at all. They are totally black and white. The second bird flew away immediately and left this guy. His size is Kingbird size. Just briefly sat there and let me take a couple pics and then flew into wetlands. It is something I never saw before. I first checked woodpeckers because of huge long bill, but realized that it was exactly the size and shape of a Kingbird. It had no coloring whatsoever. I will send the one additional pic that I have. The bill is kind of like a Tropical Kingbird which I saw last year at Madrona. Thanks Dan." Background: Dean Schaff is a local Ballona-area birder who has found several rare birds in the area, and he birds the Ballona/PdR area nearly every day. I reviewed the two photos (posted here) and they appeared to show an Eastern Kingbird. Quality may not be good enough to age, but I may be seeing a hint of wingbars, and a slightly dusky head in the shot where the head is turned away. Diagnostic white tail tips visible in the same photo. I estimated the observation time but will confirm this later.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D810

ISO

200

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

1200 pixels x 747 pixels

Original file size

69.23 KB