ML618255826

Age and sex

Immature Male - 1

Media notes

Immature male Blackburnian Warbler, present since initially found on 27 April 2024 when found by Christine Jacobs, Becky Turley, Kim Moore, and Merryl Edelstein, here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 30 April 2024 at the DeForest Park Wetlands, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California.

Observation details

After initially spotted this morning by Deb Moulton in the Coast Live Oak in the extreme northeastern corner of the wetlands, we repeatedly saw the continuing immature male warbler foraging amid the two live oaks along the eastern edge of the property just south of the northern entrance. This bird foraged actively, yet rather slowly amid the leaf clusters, typically in the upper branches of the oaks, but occasionally descending to the lower branches, and also moving between the outer branches and the middle of the tree, rarely coming fully into the open. This bird never appeared to be associated with other birds, and I never heard it vocalize. This was a medium-sized warbler with a compact structure, complex patterns, and colorful plumage. The bill was short and slim, but I was unable to discern its precise length or structure. The forehead was sloping and the crown was gently rounded on a head that appeared unremarkable in size for a warbler. I thought the neck was short and inconspicuous, and that the body was plump, full-chested, and with a posture that appeared to be midway between horizontal and diagonal with the tail held downward in the plane of the body, at least at times, but the way this bird moved about assessing the posture was difficult. The wings were medium to long, with a primary projection that was about two-thirds the length of the exposed secondaries, but the wingtips fell just short of the tips of the undertail coverts. The medium-length tail was was about as long as the body without the head and neck, if not just a bit longer. I further thought the tail was of medium width, approximately parallel-sided, and with the tip weakly notched, at least at times. I also noted that the undertail coverts were long and tapering to a pointed tip that reached maybe halfway to the tip of the tail. The legs were slim and of unremarkable length for an arboreal warbler. This was a colorful and well-marked bird that in general had the plumage patterns of a young male even though the shade of orange was almost as bright as an adult male. The forehead and crown were a dark olive to brownish-olive with fine, dark streaking, and at lead some indication of an orange median-stripe on the forehead. Demarcating the dark cap was a sharply demarcated supercilium that extended from the base of the upper mandible, through the supraloral region, over the eye, and back along the upper edge of the auriculars to their rear terminus, and seemingly slightly beyond. The supercilia were a bright, dayglow-orange throughout and seemingly flaring slightly behind the eye. Below the supercilium was a dusky mask that was similar in color to the crown and extending narrowly through the lores and below the eye before expanding across the auriculars. Although I noted that the lores were dark and that there was a yellowish-orange crescent below the eye, I had to extrapolate from what I noted to conclude that there was a narrow wedge that extended through the lores that connected with a dark moustachial-stripe that separated the crescent below the eye from the throat and connected with the lower edge of the auriculars. Further demarcating the rear edge of the auriculars was an orange band along the side of the neck. Below the mask, the throat and upper breast were an intense orange in color from the chin down to the middle of the breast, where the orange blended to dull whitish. I further thought the orange continued uninterrupted up through the malar and submoustachial regions right up to the lower edge of the mask. I noted no indication of constriction at the sides if the throat or any streaking across the breast, but there were two or so rows of fine, dark streaks at the sides of the breast and one or two rows of even finer streaks on the flanks. The lower breast, belly, and undertail coverts were whitish, but there was an inconspicuous wash of yellow across the vent region and possibly a fine, dark streak or two on the distal undertail-coverts. The underside of the tail was mostly white, but with narrow bands of black along the outer edges that expanded distally. I thought the outer feathers were white to the tip on the inner webs, but the longer, central feathers were dark, so the very tip of the tail was narrowly dark. Returning to the upperparts, the dark olive of the cap appeared to extend down the back of the neck in some way. The back was a medium to dark olive to brownish-olive in color, but also with at least one pale-buff stripe on either side of the back and several narrow, blackish stripes. The rump was similarly colored, and with at least a few narrow, dark streaks, but these were less obvious than those on the back. I did not think the upperside of the tail contrasted conspicuously with the back, but I failed to see and further detail on the tail. The wings were generally quite dark, but with two bold wingbars that represented broad, white tips to the greater and median coverts. The wingbars were similar in character, but with the upper wingbar shifted forward on the wing relative to the lower wingbar, and also with narrow edges that I thought were olive or gray to the greater coverts between the wingbars. The bases of the coverts and the inner webs of the remiges were sooty to dull blackish in color. I could not clearly see the primary coverts. The remiges had narrow edges of light gray that gave the rear part of the wing a finely striped to frosted appearance that appeared similar on the primaries and secondaries. I was less sure about the innermost secondaries, but the pattern did not appear to contrast sharply with the other remiges. Finally, I thought the exposed wingtips were dark and poorly marked. The bill was at least mostly dark, but I did not see the pattern at all well. The eyes were dark, but I was unable to discern the precise color of the irides. The legs and feet were dusky, but also apparently with some aggression of flesh or purplish tones.

Technical information

Model

ILCE-7RM5

Lens

FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS

ISO

800

Focal length

600 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/400 sec

Dimensions

3078 pixels x 1948 pixels

Original file size

9.72 MB