ML185752851

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

*Rare. A pale medium-sized bird was perched atop a stick in a field, which I hoped wouldn’t be a mockingbird. It had a yellow belly, blue-gray head, a greenish back, and a thick bill. Other yellow-bellied kingbirds were ruled out due to the relatively smaller bill, gray of throat running down onto the breast, and prominent white outer vanes of the outer rectrices. This seems like a particularly good year for Western Kingbirds in the east, as well as Tropical Kingbirds. It’s unclear if those two things are related since we aren’t confident in the source population of Tropical Kingbirds. This is the 7th record in Mass so far this fall, with others coming from Wachusett, Halifax, Wellfleet, Chatham, two from Cuttyhunk, and Manomet. New York has had eight records already, and Maine has had one. The lack of emargination in p9-10 indicates a hatch year. A molt limit is apparent in the greater and lesser coverts in the spread-wing photo. The exact location of the bird is in Rampart’s Field- https://goo.gl/maps/Aabv5n3JctBK1vav6. This field can be accessed by parking at the Eastern Point Lighthouse and walking the trail across the street from the Yacht Club. It was moving all throughout the northwest side of the field (sunlit in early morning) and in the cedar trees in the field. Sometimes it would sit and preen in a thicket or high up in a deciduous tree.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

320

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

2685 pixels x 1790 pixels

Original file size

2.7 MB