ML549689871
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Media notes
Wintering Clay-colored Sparrow, present this winter since initially reported on 11 November 2022 by Jonathan Rowley, was here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 23 March 2023 at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park, Buena Park, Orange County, California.
Observation details
After checking south of the lake, I eventually managed to find the wintering sparrow foraging with House Finches on the lawn under a Peruvian Pepper tree just west of the parking lot in the northeastern part of the park. Although the sparrow was foraging on the open lawn, it would fly up into the tree when people walked by, so I saw it only twice and relatively briefly on both occasions. I was nevertheless able to get some photIs and reasonable views of the bird as it foraged on the lawn, often belly deep in the grass. I never heard this bird vocalize. This was a conspicuously small sparrow that appeared to be only about two-thirds the size of the finches with which it was associated. The bill was short and conical, tapering from a deep base to a pointed tip along a culmen that appeared to be at least relatively straight. I noted that the bill would have extended backwand to a point near the rear edge of the eye if reversed on the face, but I could only estimate after the fact that the bill was only slightly longer than it was deep at the base. The forehead was weakly sloping, and the crown was gently rounded, if not somewhat flattened in appearance. The head appeared small for the bird's size, the neck was short and inconspicuous, and the body was relatively plump, full-chested, and with a posture while foraging that was closer to horizontal than diagonal, and with the tail held almost straight backward. I failed altogether to notice in the field any details of the wing structure. The tail was quite long, seemingly about as long as the head, neck, and body combined. It was also notably slim, and at most slightly flared distally, but I was unable to discern the shape at the tip. The legs were slim, but I had a difficult time seeing their length. This was a boldly marked bird with the head pattern particularly distinctive. The forehead and crown were a warm, dark brown in color with fine, black streaking and a sharply demarcated median-stripe thatvwas whitish in color. Demarcating the lower edge of auriculars cap was a creamy-whitish supercilium that extended from the base of the upper mandible through the supraloral region, over the eye and along the upper edge of the auriculars to their rear terminus. The auriculars were warm brown and bordered by a darker brown frame that was most apparent as a postocular stripe, but apparently also evident as a moustachiasl stripe and rear border to the auriculars. The lores were pale, though seemingly buffy rather than whitish. Complementing the supercilium was a creamy whitish submoustachial-stripe that was bordered below by a relatively conspicuous wedge of dusky coloration in the malar region, followed by a whitish throat. The boldly marked head was separated from the body by a medium-gray collar. The back was a warm-brown color with black streaking that was relatively fine, but well-defined. I was unable to see the rump clearly, but the tail appeared to be dark, albeit seemingly with narrow, pale edges to at least some rectrices. The wings were generally similar in color to the back, with sandy-brown to rich-buff fringes to feathers with blackish centers, but also with paler tips to the greater and median coverts that produced two relatively inconspicuous wingbars. The remiges were likewise fringed with buff, producing a striped appearance to the rear part of the wing, but I was unable to make out the finer details of the pattern or anything on the wingtips. My views of the underparts were obscured much of the time by the grass, but what I could see appeared to be rather whitish, lacking streaking below, but apparently with some buff at the sides of the breast. The bill was noticeably pale, and seemingly either picnk or flesh-colored. The eyes were dark, but I cannot now recall if I noted brown tones in the field. What I could see of the legs appeared to be pale, and probably either pink or a bright fleshy color.
Technical information
- Model
- ILCE-7RM5
- Lens
- FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
- ISO
- 500
- Focal length
- 600 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Shutter speed
- 1/500 sec
- Dimensions
- 4171 pixels x 2559 pixels
- Original file size
- 9.75 MB