ML318426231

Age and sex

Immature Male - 1

Observation details

Continuing bird. One of a pair that has been sighted at this locale over the last several days. Location just a little north of MP 5.2, along western slope of Clear Ditch. Staked out location from 11:15am to 1:18pm, when the bird flew in to the smaller trees west of the ditch, then dove down into the tangle of bushes lining the streambank, before taking a brief sip or two of water. Then flew up and perched a foot or two higher for a few moments, before heading back west out of sight. Almost identical behavior to previous day's sighting, and within five feet of being the same location. This individual, seemingly an immature male, was a small goldfinch-sized bird, overall light gray, with yellow (and black) wing bars, bright yellow breast with subtle streaking, slightly darker brown-cast gray back. Pale pinkish-orange bill, pointed; dark eyes. No black on cap or throat yet, but odd little patch on white feathers on back portion of crown. Crown is gray but with a faint mottled pattern of darker or black spots (evident when bending over while drinking). I heard no vocalizations during sighting, but did hear some earlier (11:45am?) coming from either the willows or sub-story trees. As with yesterday's sighting, bird was at the ditch shore and bank for perhaps a total of a minute, then gone.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

Lens

200-500mm f/5.6

ISO

1000

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/11.0

Shutter speed

1/250 sec

Dimensions

2349 pixels x 1759 pixels

Original file size

3.84 MB