ML618416551

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Was walking with Randy King on the NE side of the wetlands when what appeared to be a preening Great-tailed Grackle caught the corner of my eye. The sky appeared the same shade of white as the head and breast of the bird, obscuring half of it. After a second casual glance, the motionless "grackle" was not getting it's feathers back into order. When I put my bins on the bird, I was somewhat dumbfounded that it turned out to be a Swallow-tailed Kite. It sat for quite a while for us, and quickly became a great bird encounter. I was deep into conversation with the person I was talking to and could have walked right past this bird. There's a lesson here, as we "casually stumbled upon this bird." We alerted Matt York, who we knew was around. Later, we saw the bird flying back in the swamp a little farther east.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

ISO

80

Focal length

215 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/160 sec

Dimensions

4000 pixels x 3000 pixels

Original file size

1.66 MB