ML132897301
Contributeur
Date
Site d'observation
- Âge
- Non précisé
- Sexe
- Non précisé
Détails de l'observation
This bird was similar in structure to yet slightly larger than the White-crowned Sparrows with which it was associated. The conical bill, which would have extended only slightly behind the eye if reversed on the face, tapered from a heavy base to a pointed tip along what appeared to be a straight culmen. The forehead was inconspicuous, but the crown had a gently rounded to somewhat flattened appearance. The head seemed slightly larger in proportion to the body than those of the White-crowned Sparrows, but this may have been an illusion resulting from the plain-faced appearance. The neck was short and inconspicuous, and the body was moderately plump and full-chested. The posture was slightly more upright than horizontal, with the tail held slightly downward in the plane of the body. The medium-length wings had a primary projection that was about a third the length of the exposed secondaries. The tail was parallel-sided and about as long as the head and body combined. This was a relatively dull individual, yet its plumage patterns were nevertheless conspicuous. The forehead and forcrown were speckled with white or pale gray on a dusky-gray to blackish background, but the crown itself was dark brown. The supraloral and superciliary regions, back nearly to the nape, and the lower part of the face were a rich-buff color and rather plain in appearance. I noted clearly a chestnut crescent framing the rear edge of the auriculars, but I did not see much if any postocular-stripe. The auriculars themselves were slightly more grayish or possibly olive than the regions both above and below, but they seemed to lack an obvious pattern and their contrast was weak enough to result in a plain-faced appearance. The back was sandy-brown with dusky-brown streaks throughout, but I did not see the rump clearly. The wing coverts and remiges had dark brown centers that contrasted with well-defined fringes to produce a bold pattern. The median coverts had creamy-whitish tips that produced an upper wingbar that appeared to be slightly scaly. The greater coverts had narrow tips of the same color, but the edges were a rich-buff to sandy-brown color, so there was a band of fine striping between the wingbars. The innermost secondaries had relatively broad edges of creamy whitish that produced a boldly striped pattern on the inner part of the wing, but the edges on the remaining remiges were sandy-brown to pale cinnamon, so the rear part of the wing was finely striped. I think the exposed primary tips were narrowly fringed, but I am now having a hard time remembering this clearly. I noted only that the tail seemed to be dark. Whereas the lower part of the face was a rich-buff, I thought the submoustachial region was whitish, and it was only weakly demarcated from the white throat by narrow and poorly defined malar-stripes that connected as a narrow line across the lower edge of the throat. The throat was otherwise unmarked, but there was a wedge of blackish speckling in the middle of the breast and then some chestnut streaking on the foreflanks. The middle and rear flanks were washed with sandy-brown but they were not boldly marked. The belly was white and unmarked, but the undertail coverts were again washed with buff to sandy-brown, and thus similar in coloration to the flanks. The bill was a relatively bright shade of orange, but I was unsure if it had a darker tip. The eyes were dark, but I cannot now recall if they showed brown tones. The legs were a shade of orange that was similar to the color of the bill, but I do not think I ever saw the feet clearly.
Informations techniques
- Modèle
- Canon EOS 7D
- Lentille
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM
- ISO
- 500
- Longueur focale
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/8.0
- Vitesse d'obturation
- 1/1000 sec
- Dimensions
- 942 pixels x 720 pixels
- Taille originale du fichier
- 702.55 KB