Had a Cassin’s Kingbird this afternoon at Lake 6. I saw it last between the
swallow roost and the cemetery. The bird was closer in appearance to the NatGeo
pics than Sibley’s. Didn’t ever get a great look at the chin because of
lighting, intervening vegetation, and posture. The one brief look in bad light
showed more contrast between the throat and breast than in Western. The
transition from gray to yellow between the breast and belly was lower than
other yellow bellied kingbirds. Clincher ID-wise was the pale (not white) tail
tip without white outer tail feathers. Tail was not as black as pictured in
either guide, so I suppose we could speculate about a hybrid of some sort. The
bird perched lower than typical resident Westerns. Of course it had to be
quiet, so no song/call help with ID.
Other flycatchers present included one Empid that didn’t cooperate with my weak
Empid ID skills and one Scissortail.
Warblers at Lake 6 today were 3+ Wilson’s Warblers and an early(?)
Orange-Crowned Warbler. I had my first Yellowrumps of the fall yesterday at the
cemetery. Also at the cemetery yesterday was a flock of about 20 spizella
sparrows, mostly if not all Chipping Sparrows. Today at Lake 6 there were 4-6
Clay-colored Sparrows and 1 Lark Sparrow. I had one streaky sparrow I initially
called a Savannah, but later realized I hadn’t gotten a good enough view to
rule out Vesper.
In the airspace of Lake 6 today, there was at least 1 Bank Swallow and 1 Cliff
Swallow in with the Barn Swallows. An Osprey was hunting over the lake but the
Redtail was just passing through.
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