[obol] FW: PHILADELPHIA VIREO Clackamas County (Oregon City)

[DAVID IRONS]

I have been asked to forward this note from a long-time friend of my 
mother's.

Dave Irons


>From: LOUIS C FREDD <louisfredd at msn.com>
>To: David Irons <llsdirons at msn.com>
>CC: <hnehls at teleport.com>
>Subject: PHILADELPHIA VIREO Clackamas County (Oregon City)
>Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 22:12:22 -0700
>
>
>Hi David
>
>Please pass this on to OBOL:
>
>Yesterday 01 September 2007, 0730h, an immaculate PHILADELPHIA VIREO spent 
>about 15 min in our yard foraging first in a 30 ft high clump of pussy 
>willows and then a 65 ft high maple.  I used 10X binoculars at 50-75 ft.  I 
>first spotted it at eye level moving quickly in and out of sight within the 
>thick leafy cover of the willows.  General appearance in the bright morning 
>sunlight was grayish above and creamy yellow below.  It emerged briefly to 
>perch facing me on the end of a slender branch.  It presented bold vireo 
>markings: (1) prominent pale supercilium bordered above by (2) a 
>charcoal-gray crown and below by (3) a dark eye-line extending onto the 
>lores.  The eye-line was bordered below by a pale half-circle on the cheek. 
>  It quickly returned within the cover of the willows and moved about as 
>before, visible only when it gleaned leaves exposed on the ends of 
>branches.  Once I had a full view of it hover-gleaning on rapid wing beats. 
>  I was able to watch it once more motionless in favorable light.  I 
>observed then that its undertail coverts were pale yellow in contrast with 
>its pale abdomen.  I mentally compared body form with Warbling Vireo (last 
>seen here on 25 August this year):  This vireo was definitely heavier 
>bodied or plumper, smaller and it seemed to be shorter tailed and to have a 
>smaller bill.
>
>When it left the willows I found it 5 min later in the the top half of the 
>maple.  Distance and viewing angle was less favorable and I didn't add 
>details to the above.  I could watch its foraging behavior a little easier 
>in the more open crown of the maple.  When I lost it a couple of times I 
>refound it when it would shake the leafy end of some slender branch before 
>retreating again into the canopy.  The vireo disappeared for good when a 
>stiff breeze came up and gave the top branches of the maple a good shaking.
>
>This was a life bird for me.  I found its markings, body form and behavior 
>to be distinctly different from the Warbling Vireos I have observed here 
>during migration.  The "Drab Adult" illustrated in The Sibley Field Guide 
>to Birds of Western North America was a close match.  Foraging behavior 
>agreed with that described as characteristic of Philadelphia Warbler in 
>Stokes Field Guide to Birds (Western Edition).  I found photos on the 
>internet of two different Philadelphia Warblers by two different 
>photographers that closely resembled the one I saw.  Interestingly, both of 
>these were taken in California.
>
>
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