ML40221641

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

This Tennessee Warbler, initially found on 15 November 2016 by Greg Cross, was photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 16 November 2016 at Pond Park in Murrieta, Riverside County, California.

Observation details

This was a brightly colored bird that was not all that boldly marked even though it was more colorful than are most Tennessee Warblers that I see in the fall. I thought the forehead, crown, and nape were a relatively dark, olive-green in color and without any obvious streaking. The lower edge of the Was demarcated by a supercilium that was yellowish in color and relatively inconspicuous as it extended through the supraloral region, over the eye, at least part of the way back along the upper edge of the auriculars. I noted only a relatively inconspicuous, dark stripe through the lores and an even less conspicuous wedge of the same color extending a short distance behind the eye. I thought the auriculars were about the same shade of yellowish-green as the sides of the neck, but I am a little unclear about this now. I further thought the darker and more greenish color of the face blended to a relatively bright, golden-yellow color on the throat, but I had a hard time distinguishing where the point of demarcation between the darker and yellower colors occurred. The throat, breast, and sides were uniformly golden-yellow in color. I thought the yellow color of the breast extended down to its junction with the belly, but it also continued down along the flanks to the vent region. The center of the belly appeared to be white, but there was still quite a bit of yellow in the vent region, beyond which the undertail coverts were again white. I thought the underside of the tail appeared to be a dull, grayish-brown color without any obvious pattern. I noted on more than one occasion that the thighs appeared to be either yellowish or greenish as opposed to white. Returning to the upperparts, the back, scapulars, and rump were a bright line-green in color with no markings or other contrast apparent. Had a hard time seeing the pattern in the wings, but what I could see on the median and greater coverts appeared to contrast darker centers with relatively narrow fringes of about the same shade of lime-green that characterized the back. In the case of the median coverts, the pattern that resulted was a row of darker spots across the upper part of the wing. On the greater coverts, however, I thought I saw a row of elongate boxes as opposed to a true wingbar. The primary coverts did contrast as darker than the rest of the wing, but even these feathers appeared to have some paler and possibly green fringes that created an indistinctly striped pattern along the leading edge of the wing. The remiges each appeared to be quite blackish in the center, but each feather had a relatively conspicuous fringe of bright green that on the innermost secondaries were broader and more diffuse than it was on the remaining remiges, on which it was narrow and well-defined. The exposed primary tips also had narrow yet well-defined fringes that extended along the length of the outer web and across the tip of each feather to facilitate my distinguishing the various feathers in the wingtip. Unlike the fringes on the secondaries, those on at least the distal parts of the primaries appeared to be whitish as opposed to bright green. I have no doubt that I saw the upperside of the tail, but I cannot now recall anything about its coloration or pattern. I do however suspect that it did not contrast strongly with the pattern on the wings. My impression was that the bill was mostly if not entirely dark, but I had a hard time distinguishing its precise coloration. I noted in the field only that the eyes were dark, so their precise color escape me. As far as I could determine, the legs and feet were blackish, if not truly black, in color.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

2014 pixels x 1276 pixels

Original file size

578.94 KB