ML618528750

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

After initially eyeing the singing PLVI in the same tree, I noticed the typical slower vireo foraging movements of this bird to the right, and initially the clean white throat really grabbed my attention from underneath with a good sharp contrast to head/hood color and clean borders to that . Getting a profile view a couple of seconds later showed an extensive and bright, lime green color along flanks. Bird eventually turned and showed a green mantle as well. All of this against a slate- or blue-gray head. Throat border looked really well defined relative to the head. Cassin's obviously the more likely bird, but I have not seen a CAVI with this type of contrast to the head & throat, or this well defined of a throat border, nor this bright overall. The CAVIs seem to have a duller green appearance overall and more uniform over the entirety of the upper parts, while having sort of dingy throat that doesn't show the "clean" borders that this bird showed. Cassin's do seem quite a bit more scarce in spring (BHVI scare anytime in NM, but especially in spring as well). Photos (and live view through bins) also show a pretty good contrast between the green colors above and the blue-gray color of head. Head color shows a sharp contrast against the white spectacles, and any of the white underneath.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D850

Lens

500.0 mm f/5.6

ISO

720

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

2257 pixels x 1502 pixels

Original file size

1.93 MB