ML96707531

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

A continuing Carolina Wren that had been present since initially found on 7 March 2018 by Mary Lambright and photographed here by Curtis A. Marantz on 30 March 2018 at Lake Patagonia State Park, Santa Cruz County, Arizona.

Observation details

This was a small, plump bird that was slightly smaller than even the Lincoln’s Sparrows that were in the same area and quite different in shape. The was relatively long and slightly decurved as it tapered from a base of medium-depth to a blunt tip along a culmen that was smoothly yet subtly decurved. The forehead was weakly sloping and the crown had a gently rounded to somewhat flattened appearance on a head that appeared large relative to the body. The neck was short, stocky, and inconspicuous, and the body was plump and full-chested with a posture that was not as upright as diagonal when the bird perched upright. The wings were short and rounded, falling right about at the base of the tail and with at most a very short primary projection. I thought the tail was relatively long for a wren, parallel-sided and seemingly square-tipped if not weakly notched. This was a boldly marked bird, yet the patterns seemed simpler than those of the Sinaloa Wren seen the previous day. The forehead, crown, and nape were a rich rufous-chestnut color and apparently without markings on the crown. Demarcating the lower edge of the crown was a strikingly white supercilium that I thought began over the eye from which it extended back along the upper edge of the auriculars to their rear terminus and seemingly a little beyond yet not connecting across the nape. I thought the supercilium was entirely white and sharply demarcated above and below. I was a bit unsure about the color in the lores, but I thought they were pale, and was confident that there was not a well-defined loral-stripe. Extending back from the eye was a broad post-ocular bar that appeared to be broader than the eye where the two met and seemingly expanding slightly in depth as it extended back across the upper part of the auriculars to their rear terminus. I thought the postocular bar was about the same color as the crown, if not a subtly darker and slightly more brownish color. Moreover, lower edge of the postocuar appeared to be almost as sharply demarcated with the whitish color that characterized the lower part of the face in the moustachial, submoustachial, malar regions, as well as what appeared to be the lower part of the auriculars. This bird lacked the bold streaking along the rear edge of the auriculars that was so obvious on the Sinaloa Wren, and it also appeared to lack a darker malar stripe, so the chalky-whitish color of the lower part of the face continued uninterrupted to the chin and the upper throat. The whitish color of the upper throat blended into a yellowish-buff color on the lower throat and this color continued down across the breast, belly, sides, and flanks. I thought the undertail coverts were buffy on the basis of briefly views in the field, yet my photos show that they were conspicuously barred. My photos show the underside of the tail to have relatively fine, rufous-and-dusky barring. Returning to the upperparts, the back, scapulars, and wings appeared to be about the same shade of rufous-chestnut as the crown and the back of the neck. I noted only once what appeared to be some fine and rather inconspicuous, dusky barring on the primaries that was evident along the leading edge of the wing, but I thought the inner parts of the wing, presumably the secondaries, appeared to be unmarked or at most subtly barred. I further noted that the tail was quite rufous in color, but I cannot remember if it was barred. The overall appearance was that of a bird that was much like the Sinaloa Wren in its size and shape, yet its crown and upperparts were much more rufescent, its underparts were mostly yellowish-buff, and the supercilium was bolder and more conspicuous, mostly because the postocular-bar was broader and more solidly dark and the auriculars lacked the conspicuous streaking along their rear border. The bill was mostly dark, but the lower mandible was a medium-gray color, at least basally. The eyes were dark.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

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

ISO

800

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/3200 sec

Dimensions

1657 pixels x 1138 pixels

Original file size

3.77 MB