ML394848431

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Silent Myiarchus perched in bushes by walkway just south of the basin. Never gave a front-facing view before we lost it, so no distinguishing looks at retrices, but had a brightish throat and the bill didn't seem exceptionally thick. 12/23/21 Edit: There has been a lot of speculation about this ID after getting extensive looks at the (probable) Great Crested Flycatcher. Our encounter with this bird on 12/10 was brief and unexceptional. We originally ID’d the bird partially—and perhaps naively—on the belief that ATFL would be the most likely winter Myiarchus. Also, the bill did not seem abnormally large, though we’ve since decided that we cannot make an accurate estimation of the bill size based on the angles of the bird in the photos. We did go back the next morning for a clearer ID and couldn’t re-find it. At this point, I don’t think there are enough distinguishing field marks evident on this bird to confirm it as any particular Myiarchus without clear front-facing views. I do *hope* it is the same individual as the 12/23-present probable GCFL as that would indicate that it’s been around for a while and might be more likely to stay past the holidays for more people to witness. I think a Myiarchus seen in the same park with just a few weeks between each sighting certainly points to it being the same bird. But I’ll leave it up to someone who knows how to compare individual field marks and feathers to confirm one way or the other.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

Lens

4.3-215.0 mm

ISO

80

Focal length

215 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/250 sec

Dimensions

1000 pixels x 667 pixels

Original file size

575.58 KB