[Birdnet] Painted Bunting, Scarlet Tanager, rs hawk continue Wedneday PM

[Colby Neuman]

 Hi all,

First off, I'd like to thank Matt Mills for calling in these reports and
Milt for passing them along to birdnet!  I look forward to Matt's photos and
descriptions.

Secondly, what a couple of amazing birds!  Even though I was buried in work,
I couldn't resist taking off late this afternoon and trying for the Painted
Bunting (it had been 15+ years since the last time I'd even seen one),
Scarlet Tanager and Red-shouldered Hawk at my favorite birding locale.  I
knew luck was with me when I drove right into one of the most intense
thunderstorms I've witnessed.  Visibility went down to less than 50 yards
because it was raining so hard!  The washes just west of Lookout Pass along
the Pony Express Highway were beginning to flash flood when I passed through
and after examining them tonight on the way back, they apparently did so in
fashion.  Anyway, the male Painted Bunting was the second bird I saw at the
picnic area, while the female Scarlet Tanager was the fourth!  I watched
both birds for nearly two hours.  The Red-shouldered Hawk must have flown in
without me noticing because I flushed it out of a tree after I had been
there for about an hour.  I obtained a few digi-binoc photos of the bunting
and tanager that should be sufficient for documentation purposes.

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/colby.neuman/PoorPhotosOfGoodBirds

Now onto a more detailed descriptions of the birds…

There was obviously no doubt about the Painted Bunting's identity.  The real
question was whether the bird was caged or a natural vagrant.  I had good
views of the legs on multiple occasions, and I saw no evidence of bands.
The tail definitely had significant wear because many of the tail feathers
appeared to be frayed at the end.  However, I just did some banding up in
the Tetons this past weekend, and this bird's tail feathers did not appear
anymore worn than other species that were just beginning to molt their tails
so I'm not sure the tail is a positive or negative…maybe someone can check
Pyle on the timing of tail molt in Painted Buntings?  I saw no obvious signs
of wear on any of the flight feathers though.  The back, head and underside
were all very crisp, clean and the expected colors except the undertail
covert feathers were red with some lighter feathers mixed in.  I think this
can be seen in a photo I took.  The bird actively foraged low in the
cottonwoods and on the ground.  It did occasionally move up high in the
trees and even flycatched once.  The bird did not respond to pishing (mine
at least).  The bird also actively dipped its tail when perched, which can
be seen in a video I took.  The bird was less tame and more skittish than
the Scarlet Tanager.

Even before seeing the bird, I don't see a much better candidate for a first
state record.  The date may seem surprising to some, but Painted Buntings,
particularly males, frequently disperse into southern Arizona beginning
around this time.  By August, there are usually several birds being seen
around SE AZ.  At least this is what I've noticed over the past couple of
years.  Admittedly, this is on the early side of that time frame, and I
would have liked the bird to show up in extreme southern Utah, but I don't
think a bird showing up in a migrant trap in the West  Desert is that
unreasonable.  Also, the weather of the past 3 days has been more southern
Arizona like than we've had in a long time.  Not to mention, much of this
airmass likely originated from our south or even southeast.

As for the Scarlet Tanager, the bird was a fairly uniform greenish color
overall.  The bird appeared to be slightly more gray towards the undertail
coverts and in particular the belly.  The brownish wings contrasted nicely
with the overall greenish color of the back and bird overall.  There was no
sign of any wing bars.  The bill was similar to nearby Western Tanagers in
size.  The bird did give a call note repeatedly, which I can say I've never
heard a Western Tanager give.  I'll have to listen to a CD to see if the
call it was giving was the Scarlet version of the double call note I hear
Westerns give.

Note there was a male and female Western Tanager in the trees as well.

Other birds at the picnic area included a Red-tailed Hawk, a pair of Say's
Phoebes and Barn Swallows, 1 Willow Flycatcher, 2 female Yellow Warblers, 1
Bullock's Oriole and several House Finches.

Colby
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