ML619157454

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Fortunately, the bird was actively singing during much of the time I was present, and so when it “disappeared” it was refound quickly. Over a four hour period this allowed me to get several good looks at the warbler, although much of the time it remained higher in the sycamores and pines and oaks and was difficult to see clearly. I did get a couple of photos,as well. This was a brightly colored bird with a dark-blue gray head,neck wings and upper parts, with an evident yellow-green upper back appearing to end before reaching the neck. The crown appeared somewhat darker blue with the face appearing black around the eye and the auricular. The eye was dark, and completely surrounded by black, with no trace of white arcs. The upper mandible was dark and the lower mandible was a yellow orange, very close in color to the throat which appeared entirely yellow, and sharply demarked from the black in the face. The below the yellow throat the color of the upper breast gradually became more orange and then returned to a paler yellow at the upper abdomen. The lower abdomen and undertail appeared white. I did not note the leg color in the field, but they appear grayish in the photos. The blue-gray wings contained two fairly broad white wing bars. The tail appeared relatively short, blue-gray above and whitish underneath. The song reminded seemed to consist of distinct parts. The beginning section reminded several of us of the first musical notes of a Yellow Warbler, although this perception may have been influenced by the Yellow Warblers singing in the immediate area. This musical section was followed by more of a buzzy slur of notes. The bird’s travels throughout the period was a rough polygon shape with the long axis of an est 240 m bisected by the paved road. It did appear on both sides of the road, with the eastern slop more dominated by oaks and the western section pines and sycamores. As the early afternoon approached it spent more time on the eastern slope in the oaks. (See Matt Brady’s comments). The bird sang almost constantly with brief breaks lasting an estimated 15 minutes or less between singing bouts. I observed it quivering several times as it sang. I also observed it feeding in the sycamores picking larval instars (appearing <1inch in length) from sycamore leaves. I have a couple of poor photos of this, so I am not sure the larvae can be identified. It was also observed to hover and glean at times. Note: photos are highly cropped.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

1000

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/13.0

Shutter speed

31666/39582501 sec

Dimensions

640 pixels x 427 pixels

Original file size

72.94 KB