ML489664461

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Spotted in almost exactly the same area Ian Kirkham and Peter Davey observed the bird yesterday, just over 30 minutes walk from the trailhead at moderate pace. Only one seen today, vs the two seen yesterday. We were searching for this bird so made good time towards the area it was last seen. Sat and waited at the entrance to the 2nd warbler walk for around an hour, until we started walking West down the trail around 9:15, at 9:30 the bird was spotted perched in the mangroves at the edge of the trail. Small size pointing towards Empidonax rather than Contopus, the obvious eye-ring and greenish vest or breast band were the features that stood out immediately. Least Flycatcher was ruled out by the extent of the olive greenish color that extended up the back of the bird (Least tending to be more brownish in color). Primary extension also appeared longer than that of a Least Flycatcher. This narrowed the identification down to the Yellow-bellied/Acadian Flycatcher group. However, the rounded head with no obvious crown peak, greenish vest with yellow wash to the undersides, and the narrow tail all point towards Yellow-bellied. Eye-ring yellowish rather than white. Bill length also points more towards Yellow-bellied rather than Acadian. The feeding behaviour also would be suggestive of Yellow-bellied, it was constantly sallying out and snatching insects from the air, a behaviour not commonly seen in Acadian (they prefer to glean insects from the back of leaves using upward sallies, only catching insects from the air around 5% of the time). The bird was unfazed by our presence, even seemed to be using us to stir up insects from the grass along the side of the trail. It didn't seem to favor any particular perch but would fly straight out above the path, catch an insect and then fly back into the bush. We were able to watch the bird at various points along the trail for around 20 minutes or so allowing good views of both the appearance and behaviour. Update: Also noted whilst observing the bird was flicking of the tail and wings, I have since read that is typical behaviour for a YBFL.

Technical information

Model

E-M1MarkIII

Lens

M.40-150mm F2.8 + MC-14

ISO

800

Focal length

210 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.0

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

945 pixels x 709 pixels

Original file size

115.74 KB