ML32907091

Age and sex

Adult Male - X

Observation details

*First county record* This bird was overwhelmingly favoring the south side of a Peruvian pepper in a small grove of three large trees. Located about 500 feet west of the intersection of Los Alisos and Vista del Lago in Wilderness Glen Park, immediately off the side of the road (actual tree was about 50 feet off the road). I first noticed its loud, metallic wing trill, which I had never heard before. I easily tracked the bird down and immediately noticed it did not look like any of our expected southern California birds. The bird had a full pinkish gorget covering its throat only, with the rest of its head clearly and solidly green. It was noticeably small with a full green back. As I continued to track it I was also able to see that its rectrices, some of which were tipped in white, were clearly long than its wing tips. The flanks did not seem to exhibit any buffiness, but were greenish instead. The breast and belly were starkly white. It was not always visible, but the white line along the top of the gorget was apparent at certain times when it would turn its head. The bird generally only moved a couple feet at a time, and went through bouts of being very active and not staying still for more than a couple seconds, and bouts of prolonged stillness, at one time surpassing 20 minutes of not moving from one spot. It VERY MUCH tended to stay in the shade of the tree, only coming remotely into the open a few times over 3.5 hours. A few times it left completely to unknown whereabouts, but always came back to the same tree within a couple minutes. There is a hummingbird feeder at a house on the hillside to the west (white patio cover and off-white awning). A couple times the bird attempted to fly in that direction and was rudely chased off by a Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird, after which it would return to the same tree again.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX260 HS

ISO

800

Focal length

90 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.8

Shutter speed

1/80 sec

Dimensions

4000 pixels x 3000 pixels

Original file size

1.9 MB