ML51932611
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
As I was stopped looking at a Black-throated Gray Warbler, another warbler popped into view that had a pale yellowish wash to the throat, breast, and face, a weak dark facial pattern, and two bold white wing bars. Upon seeing it, my initial reaction was "Holy s**t that's a Blackburnian Warbler!" I immediately back-pedaled and considered fall Blackpoll Warbler, but upon seeing it again it clearly had dark auriculars and a pale yellow lower eye arc eliminating that species. Additionally I could see that it had some limited streaking on the sides and no black in the throat area eliminating most plumages of Townsend's Warbler as well. It called several times during this initial encounter, giving a soft, high pitched "seep". I then called everybody I could think of, and in doing so eventually lost track of the bird. After Matt Grube arrived about 30 minutes later, I refound it about 200 meters away again in a sycamore tree. I was able to watch the bird for over an hour from this point as I waited for more birders to arrive. It foraged actively and moved all throughout the canopy of the sycamore trees in a small area. It was loosely associated with one or a few Black-throated Gray Warblers, and would often come down low in the trees and forage just a few meters from us giving excellent views. It was at this point that I was able to study the bird at length, and in particular note the pale vertical streaks (braces) on the otherwise dark back that are diagnostic for this species. This bird had a pale yellow wash to the throat and breast, and a pale yellow lower eye arc and long, broad supercilium that were offset by the dark auriculars and crown. The pale yellow coloration wrapped up behind the auriculars but did not connect to the supercilium. The wings were dark (blackish) with two bold white wing bars (greater and median coverts) on each wing, and the upper tail appeared dark. The belly and under tail coverts appeared whitish, but with some fine dark streaks on the sides of the breast and belly. There were large white spots on the inner webs of the outer-most tail feathers (R6), such that the closed tail appeared almost entirely white from underneath. The bill was extensively pale at the base, which also eliminates hatch year female Townsend's Warbler. This is the first record for the campus and about the 20th record for the county.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 70D
- Lens
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM
- ISO
- 400
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Shutter speed
- 1/320 sec
- Dimensions
- 1963 pixels x 1614 pixels
- Original file size
- 1.58 MB