ML62696921

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I stepped out of the truck at the Salmon River boat harbor boat ramp and a lone bird immediately flew up from the rip rap atop a green metal sign within 20' of me. I got an excellent look at the bird through 10x binocs and in good lighting recognized it as a Rock Wren, with which I'm very familiar, by it's relatively large size, thin down-curved mandibles, whitish underparts with slight buff under the tail, light supercilliary line, and wren-like posture and behavior. As if these marks were not enough, the bird called the characteristic "Churr, churr, churr" paused briefly then repeated the same sequence. When the bird flew, I could see wren-like barring on the tail. I thought about dashing back to the truck for the camera, but saw a family of bicyclers approaching and thought my sudden movement might spook the bird, so I eased the iPhone out and took two quick photos before the bicycles came close and flushed the bird, which indeed did soon happen. Unfortunately in one pic the bird turned it's head to look away, and in the other it moved half out of the picture before it flew down towards the rip rap and river. I looked, but couldn't re-find the bird nor did it respond to a call. This is the first record of this species at Glacier Bay/Gustavus. I live in Rock Wren country during the winter months and have often seen and heard this species. It was common in Death Valley, Lava Beds, and the Central Valley of Calif. where I've lived and worked also. There is no chance this was a Pacific Wren, the only wren species found in the Glacier Bay/Gustavus area. It was also definitely not a Bewick's, Carolina, Cactus, Canyon or House Wren and I am confident that this was an out-of-range Rock Wren.

Technical information

Model

iPhone 7 Plus

ISO

20

Focal length

6.6 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/2.8

Shutter speed

1/606 sec

Dimensions

1965 pixels x 1663 pixels

Original file size

441.04 KB