ML83964751

Age and sex

Immature Unknown sex - X

Observation details

Bird first seen flying from e to w just w of reservoir dam. Landed on ice near se boat ramp. Foraged on ice but I was too far away to see what it was getting. Suspect maybe pulling winter-killed fish from open water up onto ice but this is pure speculation. I drove down below dam to obtain attached photos. Tony Leukering determined this to be a first-winter bird. This leads one to wonder if it is an overwintering individual from breeders that occur on the grasslands nearby in summer, rather than a very early northbound migrant. As I was leaving and had just reached the dam, I noticed this bird flying across my windshield. I grabbed my camera and attempted jumping out to photograph it in flight but never saw the bird again. I did notice the cinnamon wash to the entire underparts, especially the wings.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 60D

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

ISO

250

Focal length

375 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/10.0

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

1962 pixels x 1147 pixels

Original file size

1.73 MB