ML611293889

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Late. First seen in a live oak above Olmsted Road by its intersection with Escondido Road. I got clear but brief binocular views of it here before it disappeared for the next 45 minutes or so. After following the chip calls of a Townsend's Warbler to a valley oak at (37.42200, -122.15416), at the intersection of Harvard Street and Stanford Avenue, I finally saw the Black-throated Gray fly up from a yard on the far side of Stanford Avenue and join the Townsend's high in this tree. It was still foraging in this valley oak when I left. Familiar warbler similar to Townsend's in size, shape, and overall color pattern, but without any yellow anywhere (except perhaps the yellow loral spot, which I never saw clearly). Black mask and crown. White supercilium and malar. Dark throat patch, so a male, but perhaps an immature male, as its throat was a duller grayish-black as opposed to the solid black throat of the individual at Frenchman’s Park recently. Dark gray back. White wing bars. White underparts with some fine dark streaking on the flanks. Photographed poorly. I first found this bird when I heard an interesting warbler flight call as I biked through, so I got off my bike and checked it out, quickly finding a couple Townsend's and this Black-throated Gray among a bunch of other flocking songbirds. Though the flight call alerted me to this bird, I think the flight call I initially heard may have just been one of the Townsend's, as it was difficult for me to distinguish the single high flight notes I periodically heard from both the Townsend's and this bird. I also think I heard this bird chipping at least once, but although I know the chip of Black-throated Gray is lower and drier than that of Townsend's or Hermit, I still don't feel that I can tell them apart consistently, maybe because I don't have enough experience with Black-throated Gray. Even some junco chips sound like Townsend's to me sometimes. The warblers and other songbirds were foraging in a variety of trees including live oaks, a cork oak, Canary Island pines, and Chinese elms. While most of these birds were foraging in the trees, some of them also flew out to hawk flying termites which were emerging following the recent rain. A mixed flock of goldfinches and siskins was in the same area, flying around often, which made it harder to keep track of the warblers.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX620 HS

ISO

800

Focal length

106.9 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

636 pixels x 477 pixels

Original file size

109.46 KB