ML619095085
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Observation details
Woah!!! How amazing to stumble upon this eccentric gray denizen of the Great Basin piñon-juniper woodlands singing incessantly in Santa Barbara's very limited juniper scrub! The most accurate way I can describe the feeling of this find is "Hot damn!!", Thomas Turner's reaction to hearing the news. I (Alex) was in front of the rest of the crew, and started hearing a vireo singing from the junipers on the south slope of the canyon. I first assumed it was a Cassin's, which I haven't heard singing yet this year. I still wanted to see it, so I tried from a fair distance but couldn't manage to pick it out from where I was. When Max got to me, his sharp ears picked up that it sounded wrong for Cassin's. As he noted, it was a three syllable song (rather than Cassin's' two) and delivered more rapidly than Cassin's. He rightfully suggested that we get looks at the bird, as he already had his suspicions about the ID, so we got closer to the patch it was singing from. I got brief looks and noted how pale it was, and started to think about Plumbeous, but Gray didn't even cross my mind. It was only when it perched more in the open that Max uttered "Could that be a Gray???" and sure enough we were dumbstruck to discover that it was! We immediately called Ryan over, who was within earshot, but we thought our shouts didn't reach Sophie who was farther back so I ran to get her, but she had heard us and thought one of us was dying. The 4 of us then spent the next hour observing and documenting the bird, easily picking it up again and again by the constant singing. The bird was a medium sized vireo, about the size of a solitary vireo to my eyes. From a distance, it was mostly an all gray bird with white undersides, a faint wingbar, and a thin but distinct white eyering. From closer we could get more details on it. The head was a fairly light gray, palest at the lores giving it a bit of a spectacled look in the right light. The auriculars were also a tad lighter than the rest of the head, giving it fairly weak contrast between the hood and throat, except when in deep shade where the contrast was a little stronger. The eyering was very thin, but being a bright white it was very obvious. The wings and tail were a dark gray color, about the same shade. The bird had white edges to the tertials and white ends to the great coverts gave it a faint wingbar. The median coverts also had white tips, but a little fainter, suggesting a half wingbar at the right angle and light. The underparts were a clean white, with absolutely no color on the flanks. The bill was a classic hooked vireo bill. Photos and audio will be added
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- 296.82 MB