ML610450498

Detalles de la observación

!!!!!!!!!MEGA!!!!!!!!! Second state record ninth United States record outside Alaska. As we were walking along the rack line at Hobuck, I flushed a small passerine up and into the grass. Jason was behind me in the grass, Alex and Louis to my left. Only Louis and I saw it at first, and we were both struck by the small size and short tail, it was obviously not the usual Savannah Sparrow. Calling out an odd bird, Alex moved to my left to the grass line and Jason stayed where he was. Louis and I walked up into the grass trying to flush it again. It worked, and the bird erupted out of the grass. I was again struck by the short tail, and then by the odd flight call. Instead of dropping back into the grass, the bird continued flying and alighted in a small isolated Willow. I got eyes on it and immediately recognized it as a LITTLE BUNTING. The bird then dropped into the grass and out of sight. Everyone had seen it in flight, but nobody else had gotten an identifiable view of it perched. Jason had noted white outer tail feathers though, and by now everyone was very excited. Alex and Jason converged on either side of the willow, while Louis and I stayed put cameras at the ready. As Alex got near the bush, the Bunting flew out the back right side and perched up only ten or so feet from Jason who said "I am looking at a Little Bunting." The bird was obscured for Louis and I, so Jason was the only one to get any usable photos in the ten or so seconds it was perched. It soon flew again, right past Jason and down into the edge of the grass. We walked back to the beach and watched it for the next twenty minutes or so as it picked through the wrack line of the beach, catching sand flies and hanging out with a Savannah Sparrow. A very unafraid bird, it allowed careful approaches within ten or fifteen feet, and crippling views were had by all. At some point during our viewing, Louis offhandedly mentioned a Taiga Merlin perched up on the top of a spruce some quarter mile away. We took a quick look at it, then went on photographing the bunting. About five minutes later Maxine arrived, and a few minutes after that another gentleman that I didn't catch the name of. Right then, the Bunting and Savannah Sparrow suddenly took to the air, flying fast north up the beach gaining altitude the whole way. We watched them as they flew up and over the river mouth, thinking they were good as gone. Just then, the same Taiga Merlin appeared out of nowhere pursuing the unlikely passerine pair. The Savannah flew down and into the grass, but the Bunting did not. It curved it's course, heading now east up the river. The Merlin made several dives at it, each one being a near miss. Just as the Bunting started to lose altitude headed towards the grass, the Merlin succeeded. We watched it grab the bunting midair, and fly back to it's spruce bunting in tallon. Over the next half hour, the Merlin devoured the Bunting in the Spruce sending feathers and small bits of MEGA everywhere. By some miracle, nobody who had gotten to Hobuck Beach to chase it was too late, everyone had seen the bunting alive! I would later walk the entire area around the spruce looking for Bunting feathers to no avail, it's likely the wind took the feathers away sending them into or across the river. An overall small Emberiza Bunting. Pointy conical bill, grayish on the upper mandible and pale pink on the lower. Crested looking head, with black eye and small white eyering and rusty red face and cheek bordered partially by a blackish ear crescent. Above was an eyebrow of a slightly paler shade of orange, and below a creamy white malar that wrapped around the back of the neck fading into a tawny gray nape. Throat was the same creamy white, with a triangular gray patch between the throat and malar. Top of the eyebrow was bordered by a thin dark grayish edge, the top of the head/crest a tawny yellowish. Undersides of the bird largely pale, with thin gray streaking on the breast. Sides also streaked, but with a more rusty washed base color. Back tawny with streaks. Secondary coverts tawny with black centers, secondaries reddish and tertials reddish with large black centers, primaries largely dark. Vent and UTCs white, tail feathers grayish with reddish edges and white outer tail feathers. Pink fleshy legs and feet. (48.3412577, -124.6738406) Photos, audio, video!