Yellow-throated Vireo at Mill Creek
June 6th, 2010 by Sacha Heath
Date of sighting: June 6, 2010
This bird was singing and moving and foraging from cottonwood to cottonwood along Mill Creek from just below the last Mono City house on the dowstream end of the creek to about 750 meters upstream. It was singing incessantly and at first I thought it was a Solitary Vireo (unable to differentiate between Plumbeous and Cassin’s song). So I went in for a better look. I had a recording device with me and this is what I recorded as I watched the bird (I also got a good recording of the song): “This bird has a very yellow breast, an incredibly bold eyering, a white vent and around the legs, really bright yellow [breast], a huge bill…, the white and yellow seperation [on the breast and belly] is pretty much half way down the [length of the bird], white wingbars.” And then later, when I had a better view (~5 meters), ” the Vireo has actually a yellow spectacle.”
I’ve attached some o.k. pics. The first is bizarre in that the bill appears warbler-like. It was nothing of the sort. The bill was thick even for vireo standards. Nonetheless, the photo shows the yellow/white brest/belly dividing line very well. The second pic shows the yellow spectacles o.k..
Very cool bird! Enjoy!
This post was submitted by Sacha Heath.
