Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2003 22:13:55 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mark Hoffman Subject: Re: Painted Bunting on Assateague-More Details MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable To follow-up on Matt's post: About 9:45 am I was birding along the beginning of the "Life of the Marsh=20 Trail" in the Assateague Island National Seashore/Bayside Campground area. =20= The=20 trail is along a wooden boardwalk and makes a loop from a large parking lot,= =20 starting at its eastern end, then passing a large map of the loop and then=20 heading to the south. About 45 paces after the "1" interpretive sign, there= is a=20 small marsh finger to the west of the boardwalk, and immediately adjacent to= =20 this a close wooded fringe, that ends with marsh/phragmites to the south. I= 've=20 had Philadelphia Vireo and other migrants here before, and tried my "migrant= =20 tape" (mixed spishing, chickadee and screech-owl). A few catbirds called and I soon noticed a bird in a bayberry clump just=20 south of the southern edge of the wood line (a large, for Assateague standar= ds,=20 cherry tree). The small passerine was facing me about 30-40 feet away, with= a=20 thick conical bill, a blue head, and a bright red throat, breast and sides.=20= I=20 certainly was not thinking "PAINTED BUNTING", so hybrid between a cardinal a= nd=20 indigo bunting might have flashed through my subconscious?!? The bird=20 disappeared after maybe 6 seconds, and while trying to find it again, a ligh= t bulb=20 finally went off =E2=80=A6 Fortunately, the bird shortly flew up and perche= d about 15=20 feet up in a bare limb in the open, in the clump of vegetation around the=20 cherry tree. I quickly turned my attention to its back, and it was indeed a= =20 bright metallic lime-green color. The red on the breast had a mottled appea= rance=20 in places (as I had noted when I first saw the bird), either it was in molt=20= or=20 had perhaps just taken a bath. There were several small areas of white=20 visible (the bases of the red breast feathers), and a couple small patches t= hat=20 seemed a little more bright orange than red. In the second view, I noted th= e=20 wings as dark, and the red on the underparts included the flanks. I did not= see=20 the undertail coverts or rump. The tail was short and dark. I did not get=20= any=20 real color for the bill (it was in the shade when first seen), nor did I=20 notice an eye ring on the bluish head. I did not specifically look for this= . The=20 head was a shade lighter than say the blue on the head of a Blue Grosbeak,=20 and not the somewhat metallic blue as on an Indigo Bunting. It was uniforml= y=20 blue, without a darker area between the dark eye and the bill. The back,=20 however, did show the metallic quality of the Indigo's plumage, but in lime-= green=20 instead of blue. During the second viewing, the bird was only visible anoth= er=20 6-8 seconds, and disappeared into the clump around the cherry tree. I got m= y=20 camera out, and saw the bird in flight once, headed to the west within the=20 clump. The flight view was just of a small passerine with reddish underpart= s. At that point I called Matt, and continued to work the area for the next=20 hour. The entire area to the south of the Life of the Marsh Trail parking l= ot is=20 potential habitat, as it is a very thick tangle. That is where I focused my= =20 efforts, following deer trails and finding small openings from which to scan= =20 and spish. I did not see it again. If the bird does not want to cooperate,= it=20 would be impossible to find. I then worked the area again after doing the=20 camping loops after a couple hours, but to no avail. (The Bayside migrant f= light=20 was ok, with about 50 warblers on the strong NW winds.) This is the second Painted Bunting I have found in Worcester County (Jimbo -= =20 take note) and the third I have seen there. There are three prior county=20 records: 08/31/1963 (banded, North OC banding station, MB 19:108), winter=20 1991-1992 (Stockton) and winters 1993 to 1995 (Berlin). The banding record=20= (of a=20 immature) was the first MD record and analogous to the present record from a= =20 pattern perspective. A quick review of Northeast publications show a handfu= l of=20 similar records (e.g., 30 Aug 1967, Monomy, MA; 8 Sep 1961, Island Beach, NJ= ). My prior experience with the Worcester birds illustrates how elusive this=20 species can be. I found the Stockton bird in late-December and saw it again= the=20 next April. During the intervening time period I probably looked for the bi= rd=20 30 times. Even the Berlin feeder bird was comparable. I saw this bird thre= e=20 times over its stay, and looked for it probably 25 or so times. I can not=20 offer a lot of hope to anyone trying to refind this bird, but birders don't=20= need=20 much hope to persevere, do they? Given the apparent molt of the bird's breast, it is interesting to speculate= =20 that it was from the western populations. Although he does not recognize an= y=20 subspecies, Pyle et al. (Identification Guide to North American Birds) state= s=20 that the prebasic molt of western birds "occur[s] primarily on migration and= =20 the winter grounds, whereas those of eastern birds occur on the summer=20 grounds." =20 Mark L. Hoffman Sykesville, MD Mhoff36100@aol.com In a message dated 9/5/03 10:18:54 AM Eastern Daylight Time,=20 MH1920@AOL.COM writes: > Mark Hoffman just called me from the Life of the Marsh trail where he has=20 > found an adult male Painted Bunting. He said it was about 100 feet down=20 the=20 > east boardwalk entrance. It spent time in the bayberry and the nearby=20 cherry=20 > tree. He also said the bird was very worn and seemingly in molt, so it ma= y=20 > stay for a few days. > =20 > Good luck, > =20 > Matt Hafner > College Park, MD =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================