ML646485566

Observation details

Continue bird first found by Chris and Rosie, aka "Team Howard". I first heard it calling near the big cottonwoods at the south east edge of the park. The call was a flat but "sweet" chup and stood out to me. I waited around and a few minutes later the bird appeared on a stump in plain view and close to me. I called to Erin and Nancy to come over. The bird flew across the path and then moved around low in the brush but also walked along a horizontal cottonwood branch in the tree. Great looks! Then he headed towards the community garden where we watched it for another 25 minutes or so as it popped in and out of the low vegetation at the north end of the garden. He was calling most of the time! The bird was pretty chunky and short-tailed, and shaped much like a Common Yellowthroat. I am not sure if this is an adult female or a first fall male. The bird had a black forehead that was heavily flecked with dark gray. I could not discern any olive tips on the crown feathers. It had a nice obvious yellow supercillium that wrapped around the back of the eye. The mask was more decidedly black below the eye but the black did not extend very far down the sides. The rest of the upper parts were a dark olive green. On one of the photos I think I see a few paler covert feathers and I am wondering if these are retained juvenile feathers. The entire underside was bright yellow but with a faint olive wash on the flanks. The legs were a bright but somewhat pale pink.