ML500939101
Colaborador
Data
Localização
- Idade e sexo
- Macho imaturo - 1
Notas sobre o média
Immature male Pyrrhuloxia found earlier in the day by John Green here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 3 November 2022 at Lake Cahuilla Veterans Regional Park, La Quinta, Riverside County, California.
Detalhes da observação
It was only on my last trip along this road, after the others had left for home that I began hearing the slightly metallic, “pink” calls of the bird. I called the others to alert them of the bird’s reappearance and then attempted to see the calling bird. It took a few minutes, but the Pyrrhuloxia eventually came out into view midway up a Palo Verde tree approximately halfway between the campground and the shooting range. After moving about this tree and eventually coming into the open, the bird dropped into the Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) undergrowth and disappeared. Although the bird remained quiet when in the undergrowth, it reappeared a few minutes later and began moving about open Palo Verde branches at close range before flying south to the next tree. The Pyrrhuloxia tended to remain low and well-hidden amid the dense vegetation, but it did occasionally appear in the open to provide reasonable views. I heard this bird only on occasion, when it typically gave the sharp, “pink” calls that I initially heard; however, we once heard it give a series of five to eight elements in a series, when others said that it was chased by a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). This was a small to medium-sized passerine that appeared to be roughly comparable in size to a Northern Mockingbird that was in the same area, but with the size and structure more like those of a Northern Cardinal. The bill was only as long as it was deep at the base, it would have extended backward on the face to a point just behind the eye, and the culmen was so strongly decurved that the bill appeared effectively hemispherical with a rounded tip. The forehead was relatively steep, and its junction with the forecrown was rounded, yet the crown sloped upward to a slim crest that tapered to a finely pointed tip that extended almost directly upward a distance that was roughly comparable to the width of the head. The head itself was rounded and of unremarkable size for a cardinalid. The neck was short and inconspicuous, and the body was plump, full-chested and with an upright posture that was approximately diagonal with the tail held downward in the plane of the body. The wings were short and rounded, but I failed to compare in the field the primary projection with the length of the exposed secondaries, and I cannot now recall noting the placement of the wingtips relative to the base of the tail. The tail was quite long, in that it was at least as long as the head, neck, and body combIned. It was also slim, parallel-sided, and with a weakly notched tip. I further thought the tips of the outermost rectrices were only very slightly shorter than the longer, central pair of feathers, and also that the tips were subtly worn and weakly rounded. The legs and feet were stout for a small passerine, but not unremarkably so for a terrestrial, sparrow-like bird such as a towhee. This was a colorful and relatively well-marked bird the plumage patterns and coloration of which were most like those of a female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Dominating the face was a bright, crimson-red mask that extended narrowly across the immediate forehead before encircling the eye almost as a broad, rounded eyering, but I cannot now recall where the lower part of this mask met the red that covered the entire throat. I thought the throat was the most brightly colored part of the bird, in that the shade of red was somewhat lighter and brighter than that which encircled the eye. The red of the throat also extended down through the centers of the breast and belly to the undertail coverts, which were at least mostly red, albeit with a brownish suffusion at the sides. My impression was that the red on the breast, belly, and undertail coverts were only slightly duller than that on the throat, but this may also have reflected different light. Moreover, the red in general appeared darker after the sun set behind the mountain. Contrasting with the broad, red stripe that extended throughout the underparts, the sides of the breast and the flanks appeared to be a sandy-brown in color, and this neither strongly buffy nor obviously gray. I did note in the field that the thighs were red. The demarcation between the red and brown was moderately sharp but also a bit jagged, and my impression was that the width of the red band on the underparts was roughly comparable throughout. The underside of the tail appeared to be uniformly dark red with some duskiness but no obvious markings. Surrounding the red mask, the forecrown, and the superciliary, auriculars, and moustachial regions were sandy-brown, though seemingly with a grayish cast to the forecrown and maybe also the superciliary region. As noted above, I was unsure about the color of the malar and submoustachial regions, though my impression was that the throat was not so broadly red as to extend upward beyond the malar region. Whereas the forecrown was grayish-brown, the crest was a deep red in color seemingly from where it emanated from the crown up to the tip. Apart from the deep red of the mask and the even darker red on the crest, the head appeared to be essentially sandy-brown with a variable, but generally inconspicuous suffusion of gray. The back and sides of the neck were similarly colored, and the mantle and scapulars appeared to be sandy-brown to me, though possibly with a variable suffusion of grayish. I did not see any obvious markings on the upperparts, but I also cannot recall ever seeing clearly the rump. The wings were a bit darker than the body. I never clearly saw the lesser coverts, and what I could see of the medians was little more than fringes that were similar in color to the back contrasting somewhat with dusky centers to produce a somewhat wavy upper wingbar that was relatively inconspicuous. The more elongate greater-coverts were similarly marked, with the dusky center of each feather contrasting with a relatively broad and somewhat diffuse fringe that extended the length of the outer web and across the tip to produce a band of narrow rectangles across the middle of the closed wing. Clearly apparent was a band of deep reddish that curved around the shoulder, indicating to me that both the alula and associated feathers, and the primary coverts were a deep red in color, at least in part, though I failed to notice the precise patterns on these feathers. My recollection of the pattern on the remiges is reasonably good, but probably not entire precise. What I can recall is that the secondaries, including the innermost feathers, were dusky but not blackish, and with fringes of sandy-brown to light gray that created a somewhat diffuse pattern of striping on the inner part of the wing, and seemingly with the remaining secondaries having narrower but probably also better defined edges that were similarly colored. Along the leading edge of the wing, however, the primaries each had a deep red edge that appeared to contrast with a darker center to produce a band of red along the lower edge of the closed wing that was conspicuous and of moderate width, but also with a somewhat striped pattern apparent. My recollection of the exposed wingtips is comparably weak, but my memory is that the feathers had dusky tips that contrasted with narrow but relatively well-defined fringes of buff to pale gray that extended around the tip of each feather. The upperside of the tail was again dark red, and seemingly without much pattern, but I cannot recall seeing this overly well in the field. My impression was that this bird’s bill was a medium to dark grayish color, but with some suggestion of yellowish that was probably more apparent in the sunlight than in the shade. I noted in the field that the eyes were dark, but I do not recall seeing obvious brown tones, so it would be best to check my photos. The legs appeared to be a relatively dark grayish in color, but also with some flesh tones apparent.
Informação técnica
- Modelo
- Canon EOS 7D Mark II
- Lente
- EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
- ISO
- 320
- Distancia focal
- 286 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Velocidade do obturador
- 1/800 sec
- Dimensões
- 3576 pixels x 2293 pixels
- Tamanho do ficheiro original
- 10.11 MB