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A continuing Dusky-capped Flycatcher, initially found on 16 January 2023 by Jason St. Pierre, was here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 28 January 2023 at the Palo Verde Ecological Reserve, Riverside County, California.
Observasjonsdetaljer
We managed to relocate the continuing flycatcher in approximately the same area where it had been seen previously about halfway across one of the southern roads, but I later found what was presumably the same individual along the edge of the woodland bordering the levee road a distance of 200-300 meters to the southeast of where we initially saw this bird. During our first encounter, the flycatcher was observed for an extended period of time, at times at close range, as it foraged both high in the cottonwoods on both sides of the road, and in what appeared to be largely leafless mesquites in the north side within a few meters of the ground. It was quite active, especially when foraging in the upper branches of a cottonwood in which Daniels described it hover-gleaning from the undersides of the leaves. The flycatcher was less cooperative, and seen more briefly, when I relocated it from the road along the river. During this second encounter, the bird remained relatively high, and it only briefly visited the edge, so even though I was able to get good views through my scope, I was unable to get photos, and I mostly heard it calling from obscured perches. During both encounters, the flycatcher was calling repeatedly, and giving the distinctive, and somewhat mournful, “peeeeur” that descends at the end, but we also heard it give on a few occasions the more complex song that incorporated shorter elements like the call in an irregular series with a trill at the end. This was a relatively small passerine, yet intermediate in size between an Empidonax and a kingbird, and with the distinctive structure of a Myiarchus. The bill was conspicuously long for a flycatcher, in that it would have extended backward on the face to a point near the rear edge of the auriculars, but also notably slim throughout its length, tapering little from a base of medium depth to a weakly hooked tip along a culmen that was straight for most of its length before curving downward right at the tip. The forehead had a moderate slope up to its junction with the rounded forecrown, from which the crown continued to slope upward gently to a weak peak where it met the nape above and behind the eye. The back of the neck sloped more strongly down to the back. Typical of the genus, this bird’s head was relatively large and with a blocky appearance, but its neck was short and sufficiently slim to accentuate the large head. The body itself was relatively plump, full-chested, and with a posture that was roughly diagonal, with the tail held downward in the plane of the body; however, the overall appearance of the bird was one of an elongate and relatively slim bird. The medium-length wings had a primary projection that was about a third the length of the exposed secondaries, and with the somewhat rounded wingtips reaching right about to the tips of the tapered undertail-coverts, which them selves reached about a third of the way out the tail. I cannot now recall how many primary tips were visible beyond the secondaries, but I have some recollection that I did see this in the field, and I suspect it will be shown in my photos. The tail was conspicuously long, in that it appeared to be comparable in length to the head, neck, and body combined. The tail flared slightly from a slim base to a tip of medium width that had rounded corners, but without an obvious notch in the middle. I failed to notice clearly the shape of the rectrix tips, but given the shape of the tail as a while, I suspect they were rounded. The legs were slim and of medium length for a flycatcher. This bird’s plumage patterns and coloration were typical for the genus, yet a bit different from the members more expected in our region. The forehead, crown, and nape, as a cold, dark brown, with this color extending uninterrupted down through the superciliary region to the upper edge of the eye. I noted only a subtle contrast between the paler and more grayish supraloral region and the darker and more purely brown forehead and crown. Behind the eye, the auriculars were also very subtly paler and a more grayish-brown than the superciliary region, but the difference was negligible, and I saw no other markings on the forehead, crown, or face. The more grayish color that characterized the loral region and auriculars blended into a pale gray on the lower part of the face, and eventually into light gray on the throat, which was distinctly paler than the face and unmarked. The gray of the throat continued onto the upper breast, though possibly with a somewhat dingier appearance to the sides of the breast, before blending into the lemon-yellow that extended across the lower breast, belly, flanks, and undertail coverts. I further noted that the yellow on this bird’s underparts was not quite as bright as that seen on some members of this species, yet it was also subtly more intense than I may have expected on an Ash-throated Flycatcher. I also noted that the upper edge of the yellow on the breast was curved, given that the darker grayish at the sides continued down onto the uppermost portion of the foreflanks near the shoulder. My views of the underside of the tail were not great, but what I did see appeared rather uniformly dark brown. Returning to the upperparts, the back and sides of the neck appeared similar in color to the crown, and the mantle and scapulars were likewise a shade of cold, dark brown that was like that of the crown, and like the crown, the upperparts were unmarked; however, I never did see the rump or uppertail coverts clearly. The upperside of the tail was mostly dark brown, but I was able to see narrow edges of rufous to at least the outermost two pairs of feathers that gave the somewhat spread tail a finely striped appearance. Unlike the rest of the bird, the wings were rather boldly marked. The centers of both the remiges and coverts were about the same shade of dark brown that characterized the tail, and as such, maybe a bit darker and more purely brown color than the back, which may have had just a hint of olive. Contrasting with the dark brown centers of the secondary coverts were moderately broad and well-defined fringes that appeared to be a deep buff color with just a hint of cinnamon and maybe also olive. On the median coverts the fringes extended down both edges and around the tips to produce a scaly upper wingbar, but on the more elongate grater-coverts, the fringes were narrow, but also well-defined as they extended down the outer edge and across the tip of each feather, maybe subtly broader on the tip, to produce a pattern of narrow rectangles across the middle of the wing. The primary coverts appeared to be just a bit darker brown than the secondary coverts, and with very narrow edges (and possibly tips) that were more rufescent, though I was unsure whether they were cinnamon or rufous. The remiges were more boldly marked with conspicuous fringes on each set of feathers. The innermost secondaries had whitish to cream-colored fringes that extended the length of the outer edge and possibly around the tip, though I am now unsure about this, to produce a striped pattern that was bolder than that on the other feathers, in part because the fringes were more contrasting, and in part because they appeared to be broader than those on the other feathers. The middle secondaries were edges with an odd shade of yellow with maybe just a hint of cinnamon, but the outer secondaries and all of the primaries had bright rufous edges that were narrow but well-defined. The result was a transition from whitish on the innermost secondaries, through yellowish on the middle secondaries, to rufous on the outer secondaries and primaries that is different from the pattern shown by other North American Myiarchus. The exposed primary tips were dark brown and without obviously paler fringes. The bill appeared to be entirely black, I thought the eyes were dark brown, and the legs and feet were again black.
Teknisk informasjon
- Model
- ILCE-7RM5
- Lens
- FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
- ISO
- 320
- Focal length
- 600 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/7.1
- Shutter speed
- 1/1600 sec
- Dimensions
- 4210 pixels x 2560 pixels
- Original file size
- 6.07 MB