ML624192898

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Continuing Great Crested Flycatcher, initially found on 14 September 2024 by Steve Tucker, here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 17 September 2024 at the El Carmelo Cemetery, Pacific Grove, MOnterey County, California.

Observation details

Appeared after three hours in pines along the northern edge of the cemetery before moving west into the two large cypress trees where it spent most of its time sallying about actively, generally amid the upper branches, but at times coming quite low, perching within four or five meters above the ground. It eventually moved to the trees along Asilomar Avenue in the northwest corner of the cemetery, from which it flew north over the building to trees north of the golf course restaurant, but it did appear to come back, at least briefly, before we lost track of it. I never heard this bird call despite its active behavior and the fact that it rarely remained in one place for long, though we did see it preen and stretch while perched on an exposed branch for maybe a minute or so. Observed through binoculars and scope, and I took many photos. This was a relatively large, yet slim-bodied flycatcher that appeared to be about the same size as a Gray Cat bird, though I never saw it with another bird, and it may have been the only bird that I actually saw at this site that was between the size of a bluebird or phoebe and a crow. The bill was relatively long, in that it would have extended backward on the face to a point near the rear edge of the auriculars, yet for a Myiarchus, its bill appeared unremarkable in size, and it seemed smaller than I associate with the Brown-crested Flycatchers that I see in the southeastern part of the state. I further thought the bill tapered from a moderately deep base to a blunt tip along a culmen that was straight for most of its length before curving downward near the tip, and also that the bill was about three times as long as it was deep at the base. The forehead sloped rather weakly, the crown was gently rounded, if not somewhat flattened, and the junction of the forehead and crown appeared angular, but I thought that between the crown and nape was more rounded, all on a head that appeared large for the bird's size (though unremarkable so for a Myiarchus). I did not think the neck was particularly long or slim, yet it served to accentuate the large and somewhat blocky head. The body was relatively plump, seemingly full-chested, and with a posture that was close to diagonal with the tail held downward in the plane of the body. The tail was moderately long, in that it appeared to be about as long as the head, neck, and body combined, but it did not appear all that slim at the base, nor did it flare conspicuously, though it was spread slightly at times. I thought the outer two or three pairs of rectrices had rounded, thought also somewhat frayed tips, but as a whole, the tail had rounded corners and a trip that cut straight across. I failed to note the lengths of the undertail and uppertail coverts relative to the tail, but neither appeared to be overly long. The wings were relatively short, given a primary projection that was between a quarter and a third the length of the exposed secondaries, and with the rounded wingtips falling slightly short of both the uppertail and undertail coverts. I saw the tips of only three primaries extending beyond the longest secondaries in the wingtip, but I also had a hard time distinguishing the various feathers given the lack of paler fringes at their tips. I thought the legs were relatively slim and short, but I did not see them overly well, and I have essentially no recollection whatsoever about the feet. This was a colorful and rather boldly marked flycatcher, even for a Myiarchus. The forehead, crown, lores, and auriculars were distinctly olive, if not greenish-olive, and unmarked, but I was less sure about the degree to which the green extended below the eye before blending into the medium-gray that characterized the lower part of the face, the throat, and the breast and sides. I thought the throat was a paler gray than the lower part of the face and the breast, but the paler color blended gradually into the darker gray. I noted some olive blending into the gray at the sides of the breast, but the most obvious demarcation below was that between the medium gray of the breast and sides versus the brilliant, lemon-yellow that characterized the belly, flanks, and undertail coverts. The demarcation between gray and yellow was relatively sharp, and seemingly extending straight across the junctions of the lower breast and upper belly, and likewise between the sides and flanks, albeit with the olive at the sides of the breast. Contrasting almost as sharply with the undertail coverts was the underside of the tail that appeared to be almost entirely rufous, albeit with the outer webs of the outer rectrices dark when seen from below. Returning to the uppperparts, the nape, back and sides of the neck, and the mantle and scapulars were uniformly dark, greenish-olive and lacking any markings or clear contrast with the crown and auriculars. A narrow crescent of slightly paler coloration below each eye appeared as a partial eyering, but these represented about the only markings that I noted on the face, and they were quite subtle. When the bird perched with its wings spread sufficiently far to expose the rump, I noted that the rump, and especially the uppertail coverts, had a rufous suffusion to what I thought was a paler olive color than that on the back, so there was moderate contrast. When seen from above the closed tail was a dark brown to sooty-brown in color, yet with what I thought were narrow fringes of rufous to the outer webs of some feathers that gave the outer edges of the tail a somewhat frosted appearance. At times, this bird perched with the tail slightly spread, and I saw on more than one occasion much of the outer pair or two of rectrices. It was clear at these times that the outer feathers when seen from above showed a sharp contrast between sooty-brown on the outer web and bright rufous on the inner. I further noted that the demarcation was at the shaft, with no dark brown appearing to extend across the shaft onto the inner web. The wings were also boldly marked. I saw the partially spread wing briefly when this bird preened, yet I cannot recall anything about the lesser coverts. The median coverts has sooty-brown to dull blackish-brown centers that contrasted with sharply demarcated fringes of rich buff to cinnamon-buff that extended narrowly down both the inner and outer edges before expanding across the tips to create a bold, scaly wingbar that extended across the upper part of the closed wing. The more elongate coverts also had brown centers, but they did not appear to quite as dark as those of the medians. The fringes were as sharply defined, but they seemed narrower, maybe more strongly cinnamon, and seemingly more restricted to the outer edges, at least on the inner feathers, so the lower wingbar was not as conspicuous as the upper, especially on the inner part of the wing. The primary coverts were sooty-brown and appearing as a small wedge that was darker than the greater coverts. I was unsure if they had paler fringes, but if they did, they were inconspicuous. The remiges were again sooty-brown and often appearing almost blackish. The innermost pair of secondaries (the inner "tertial" of many authors) showed a sharp contrast between what appeared to be a sooty-brown inner web and an outer web that appeared white at times, creamy-white at others, even with a cinnamon cast once or twice. I further noted both that the fringe on the outer web tapered from a broad base to a pointed tip, and that the demarcation between light and dark extended right along the shaft. The remaining remiges likewise had sooty-brown centers, but on the outer two "tertials" the fringes represented narrow, yet sharply defined, edges that clearly had a cinnamon cast, but I was unsure if they curved around the tip.

Technical information

Model

ILCE-7RM5

Lens

FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS

ISO

1600

Focal length

600 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

2965 pixels x 1781 pixels

Original file size

11.68 MB