|
English
and Scientific names: |
Spotted
Towhee
(Pipilo maculatus)
|
|
Number
of individuals: |
One adult male |
|
Locality:
LOUISIANA: |
Plaquemines |
|
Specific
Locality: |
upriver edge of the "big woods" below Fort Jackson |
|
Date(s)
when observed: |
26 November 2006 |
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Time(s)
of day when observed: |
11 a.m. |
|
Reporting
observer and address: |
Robert D. Purrington Metairie, LA |
|
Other observers
accompanying reporter who also identified the bird(s): |
none |
|
Other observers who
independently identified the bird(s) |
none |
|
Light conditions
(position of bird in relation to shade and to direction and amount of light): |
The sky was essentially cloudless, the bird was at about eye level, and the Sun was at about 90 deg to the left of the sightline to the bird |
|
Optical
equipment: |
Zeiss, 10X42 |
|
Distance
to bird(s): |
About 12 feet |
|
Duration
of observation: |
Approximately 30 seconds of unobstructed view with binoculars (as opposed to video) |
|
Habitat:
|
Brushy tangle, with palmetto understory, some castor bean, and lots of Katrina debris. About 25 feet into woods. |
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Behavior
of bird: |
The bird hopped up onto a low branch, of, I think, a downed hackberry tree, as I was working a winter foraging flock attracted to a screech owl tape. It was in clear view for perhaps 30 seconds, then moved partially behind a branch or the trunk of the tree. I pulled out my video camera to try to document it, at which point the bird moved so that only its wings and tail were visible. As I started to video, the bird dropped down out of sight, perhaps to the ground, and I could never get it up again. There were 10-15 Ruby-crowned Kinglets making a racket and I had kept the tape going for several minutes because there were Pine Warblers and a Yellow-throated present, and clearly the possibility of others. |
|
Description: |
The bird was a male rufous-sided type towhee, with black head/cowl, maroonish sides and white underparts, long tail. Size about that of a N. Cardinal, with a conical, but not very heavy bill. An Eastern Towhee would have been expected, but I immediately saw the disconnected white feather edgings, forming several interrupted lines, the wingbar(s?) in particular, but also on back or scapulars, I guess. It was not possible to see the tail pattern, in part because the bird presented itself sideways to me, and partly because I tried to film it rather than continue to examine it. |
|
Voice: |
no vocalization heard |
|
Similar species: |
There are no other similar species except Eastern Towhee. Eastern Towhee has only a little white on the wing, apparently the primary feathers, and it is not especially conspicuous. No "spotted" white edgings on the wings (median and greater coverts, I suppose), or on scapulars. |
|
Photographs or tape
recordings obtained? |
I have video which I have only reviewed in the camera and it doesn't look promising. I will see if looking at it frame-by-frame yields anything. |
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Previous experience with
this species: |
Regularly in east Texas. In Louisiana, two previous times, both found by me, once at Rutherford East and seen by others, I think, the other at Johnsons Bayou, seen by Swan and Lyons the next day and video taped, I think. |
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Identification
aids: |
at time of observation: None used at time. after observation: Sibley (mostly to get scientific
name) |
|
This
description is written from: |
Notes made at the time. |
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Are you positive of your
identification? If not, explain: |
No question. |
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Reporter:
|
Robert D. Purrington
|
|
Date
and time: |
26 November 2006 |