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Colima Warbler (Leiothlypis crissalis) New World Warblers (Parulidae) | |||||||||||||
Colimasanger ~ Chipe de Colima ~ Colimaskogssångare | |||||||||||||
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2825
(14 photos)
(3 sounds)
2018-11-08 El Terrero (col), Mexico
Can't say anything about age or sex, but I can say, that this bird is a Lifer! Finally I managed to find this rare winter visitor, and so very appropriate that it happens in Colima, exactly! It was alone foraging low in the bushes in the semi-open understory, a short distance above the km 12 sign. It responded to playback of the call, but didn't seem to take much notice of it, as it continued foraging the next 10 minutes close by before it decided to move on. This was my first visit at the locality, but the fact that the forest consists of first class mature tall small-leaf oaks with a healthy and dense understory, something I don't think I've seen on the other side of the volcanoes in the same degree, makes me suspect the species prefers exactly this type As soon as I saw the bird, I knew it was something special that I hadn't seen before. But it took a while before the right species occurred to me. It is a big warbler, and the dark plumage makes it look bigger. It is very different from it's cousins Virginia's and Nashville, whereas the former always seems brightly gray white, with restricted yellow to the vent and the breast, and the latter generally looks overall yellowish. All field characters are seen in this set of photos, warm yellow undertail and ocher rump, dirty flanks, brownish back, strong eye-ring and liver red crown feathers. Plus the big size and the voice confirmation. The photos have been cropped, but are otherwise untouched, except for a few of them where I've lightened them slightly to have characters stand out better. But take a look at photo 14, which has not been post-processed, but was heavily over-exposed from the beginning. If someone showed me this photo alone, I'm pretty sure I would have called the bird a Virginia's, if anything, and never a Colima. So again again: Don't ever rely on single poor quality photos to make your decisions. Rare |