ML613842134

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Holy crap! First seen in the bush @(40.790250,-124.169107), then flying into the conifers south of that bush, then into the Acadia tree where it spent some time foraging before flying back to the conifers. I was walking down the alley towards a bush I thought may have had the VIWA in it when I heard a weird-sounding chip note coming from a bush to my right. I tracked the bird down briefly and saw that it was a TOWA-type bird. I almost let it go as TOWA, but though my looks were very obscured, something about it just seemed off for TOWA. As I spent more time looking at it and my views slowly improved, I began wondering about HEWA. Still, I quickly discarded that ID due to the black streaking on the underparts. I had just started seriously considering BTNW when the bird popped up on top of the bush, perched for a few seconds, and gave diagnostic looks. At this point, I started freaking out. THEN THE FREAKING BIRD FLEW INTO A SMALL APPLE TREE LESS THAN TEN FEET FROM ME AND LANDED AT EYE LEVEL!!! I started snapping pics as fast as I could, then sent a couple of BOC photos around because I was having such a hard time believing I had just found a BTNW. I wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining things. I quickly got a couple positive responses, and then I sent that I was on a BTNW to the NWBIRDS WhatsApp group. From that point on, people just started showing up one after another. My impression was of a smaller warbler with dark streaking along the side of the breast, which was white, with an olive-colored crown, yellow around the vent, and dull auriculars that did not contrast much with the rest of the face. The call note was interesting, and as Rob said, the bird sounded fairly similar to a whiting empid when it called. This was not what I expected to find when I pulled up to this spot!!!

Technical information

Model

E-M1MarkII

Lens

OLYMPUS M.100-400mm F5.0-6.3

ISO

800

Focal length

361 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

2477 pixels x 1411 pixels

Original file size

2.53 MB