ML619287821

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Yet another spring stunner found by Connor Cochrane yesterday (5/16). A certifiable *Mega. The only truly chaseable GCTH in over 30 years in California (I mean, Galileo Hill is kind of out of the way for most)? Debatably the most chaseable and confiding GCTH in the state, ever? Walk up bird (insert tears of joy), as it was hopping around on the ground near the ‘lost bird of Point Reyes’ interpretive sign for a bit upon my arrival. Great bird for Marin! What stood out initially was the overall cold, dark and concolorous appearance of the bird as it was foraging on the ground. My first views of the GCTH were dorsally, and the lack of rufous tones was notable. As the bird was slowly foraging and hopping away from the small group, I think I could make out longish primaries, but this was relatively subjective given there were no other Catharus sp. present for comparative views. After the bird flushed up and flew into the cypress trees, it popped back down once a short time later for a brief period of time and I was able to get some views/pictures showing the front/breast pattern of the bird. In this view, the dark vertical lines on either side of the throat, dark triangular spots on the breast, and more diffuse oval shaped spots on the belly, were all visible and are exhibited in the photo attached to this checklist. Upon my return trip an hour later, the bird then popped out on a fallen cypress tree and foraged on the ground near the oven for better views and prolonged study. This is where the facial pattern was observed prominently, standing out as "expressionless." The bird's face lacked the clear eye ring and/or buffy spectacles of any possible confusion species. The half crescent behind the eye and gray lores, evident. Overall, the suite of characteristics listed above narrowed down the ID to GCTH, an interestedly subtle yet quite obvious bird. Total banger! Viewing conditions were ideal with high overcast skies, temperature 60 F, and light SSW wind (2-7 mph). During my second viewing of the bird an hour later, the light was starting to wane, but viewing conditions were still fine and the bird was seen well multiple times by multiple observers. CBRC Submission #2024-040

Technical information

Model

ILCE-9

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

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

3533 pixels x 2174 pixels

Original file size

3.42 MB