Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2018

Bill & Mae Mayville email:

We were there quite early but had to wait over 2 hours for the fog to lift. Once that happened the weather was beautiful with little wind and sunny.

Kowa TSN-884 Prominar 20-60 power lens scope & Zeiss 8x42FL T* bins

I saw an adult male on May 24, 2014 in the VA Medical Center parking lot, in White River Junction, VT.

Open field with shrubbery habitat between field and road. That area was where the bird was observed. It was not associating with any other birds.

I saw it fly along the open field, then onto a fence post. It was not feeding. It did fly to a different fence post a couple of times.

None heard.

I saw the bird fly in the open from my left to the right. I was above it and then it flew out of my view. It was then located by other birders that we there, when they found it on a fence post.

It was somewhere near the size, shape and structure of an Eastern Bluebird.

The crown was light brownish & showed a bit of gray on the fore crown. It had a black eye and eye-line between the eye and bill. The auriculars were light black. The nape was brownish gray and the throat was sort of cinnamon colored. There was a white area/line above and below the black eye-line. The upper one extended behind the eye and over the auriculars.

The legs and feet were darkish gray and the bill was all black, came to a sharp point and was thin.

The upper back was grayish to light brownish.

The lower back and rump were also grayish to light brownish.

The unmarked wings were quite broad with a straight leading edge and a rather rounded trailing edge and were dark above and below.

The breast was cinnamon colored and the belly & flanks were light tan colored. The under tail coverts were white.

The tail was quite wide and short. It was white except for a conspicuous inverted black T at the tip. A very striking and easy to see (while in flight), field mark.

The nearest species to compare this bird to would be a Bluethroat in terms of size and shape. However those are the only two points of similarity because the overall coloration between the two are completely different. I would also rule out an Eastern Bluebird because of overall coloration, wing shape and obvious tail shape and length differences.

Yes, this was a fall adult male transitioning from alternate plumage to basic plumage.

I also used my attached photos to assist with the details of this report.