ML76002321

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

*RARE* Flyover, heading north towards Mecca. Details submitted to CRBC. Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninadst/sets/72157649207543362/ As we were getting back into the car at the very north end of the SRA (north of the main entrance), I noticed a large dark bird (hawk sized) fly overhead with prominent white patches visible to the naked eye on the head, at the tip of the wings and in the tail. Unfortunately, I’d just shoved an entire chocolate chip cookie in my mouth, so my cries of “What is that? Is that a Caracara?” were largely unintelligible, and thus crucial seconds were lost before Ninad could get on the bird and snap some (thankfully just barely identifiable) photos. The bird came from behind us, apparently flying up the shoreline of the Salton Sea, continued overhead and away from us for about a minute, briefly turned and circled, lost altitude and disappeared behind a tree over a mile away on the north side of Highway 111 and was not refound that day in an hour of searching. Description: A large dark hawk-sized bird, seemingly larger and bulkier than the gulls at which I’d just been staring. First impression naked eye was of an all dark body with a mostly white head, white spots in the wings and a mostly white tail with a dark tip. When I got my binoculars on it, I was able to see that the white spots were in the primaries, forming a large white spot visible from above and below in the wings, with apparently dark wingtips. I could make out the mostly white tail with a dark tip and an apparently uniform dark body and wings, not quite black, but a very dark brown. Since it was now flying away from us I did not have a great look at the head or chest, but I could determine that the head and chest appeared to be mainly white, with a large heavy bill. I wasn’t able to not the color of the nape or the top of the head. The wings were very broad and blunt tipped, not tapering to a point at all, and with no noticeable bulge in the secondaries. The neck seemed rather long for a raptor, such that even from behind the head was visible on the upstroke. When it briefly circled and lost altitude, the wings were held bowed downwards. I was not able to note the color of the bare parts, and heard no vocalizations.

Technical information

Model

E-PL5

Lens

OLYMPUS M.75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II

ISO

200

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/10.0

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

566 pixels x 395 pixels

Original file size

132.39 KB