ML613404771

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***Uncommon to rare migrant, edging closer to rare in this context as Maltby Lakes is inland and OCWAs tend to grip coastal locations in migration. Only the third Maltby record for OCWA, following one this past Sept. and the prior in Dec. 2012. A difficult and low-density migrant, so always a good find in any season (though most expected in late fall). In with the large mixed sparrow flock in the fields between Lake 1 and 2. As I was gently pishing and causing sparrows to fly out from every which way, this bird landed on an exposed branch 10ft from me, and without hesitating, I went for the camera as I knew it would be good. To the naked eye, it appeared pale green-yellow, and it was too large/not energetic enough for RCKI, so my mind first went to female Painted Bunting! Once the camera focused, I knew had a typical, albeit quite bright, celata OCWA in front of me. Rich lemon-green color to underparts and chest, including the UTCs, slightly duller on the wings, and then a gray cast to the head (but not as much as some fall OCWA). Well-defined white eye arcs completed the basic suite of features to this ID. Watched on and off for about 20 minutes. Although quite bold and talkative at times, this bird would spend most of its time popping into the open for a 20 seconds before darting back to dense thickets soon after. Eventually lost once it flew to an inaccessible area. Such a top-notch moment at Maltby!! Photos to come

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

ISO

3200

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

4147 pixels x 2765 pixels

Original file size

2.84 MB