Townsend's Solitaire in Florida!

[Bob Pelkey]

Some of you may be aware that a Townsend's Solitaire has been lingering at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, Florida (for three days at the time of this writing). This is the second historical record of the species in the state! I was compelled to attempt to observe and photograph the species on Day Two when I had the chance. What you may see here is, of course, cropped (from landscape), while shooting into the light with minimal enhancements of the image presented. I would certainly like a second chance at observation of the bird, but it is unlikely. As I view the image in "preview," it appears overexposed (adding a slight amount of fill light as the bird appeared too dark). I had been experimenting with different exposure bias settings at the time of the shot with +2 or more possible in this image. The wind was wicked from the ENE and got more intense later in the morning. Before I left the park I attempted to photograph dragonflies (manual focus) that hovered erratically over a small pool of water while they fought the wind. Quite an entertaining experience in itself. In the image attached, the solitaire is making a return to nearby snag after feasting on a few berries.

Regards,

Bob Pelkey
http://swfloridabirder.blogspot.com

[gail bisson]

Thanks for the great story Bob. I have never seen this bird IRL but
I see a bit of a magenta cast (easy fix).
Gail

[Bob Pelkey]

It was brought to my attention by Charlie Fisher in another forum that Ed Kwater was the first to ID the bird on Day One. I also neglected to mention the gear and other shooting info . . .
Canon 1DM4, EF 600mm 1:4 L IS USM, Induro AT413, Wimberley, 10:32:26 local (I neglected to remember to adjust the time in the camera to allow for the recent change in Daylight Savings Time, so the exif data shows 11:32:26), f/5.6 (a teleconverter/ extender was NOT used), ISO 800, 1/1250 sec., aperture priority.

Cynthia Paonessa called Ron Smith to report that the TOSO was observed again (a remarkable Day Four) less than 45 minutes ago.



Some of you may be aware that a Townsend's Solitaire has been lingering at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, Florida (for three days at the time of this writing). This is the second historical record of the species in the state! I was compelled to attempt to observe and photograph the species on Day Two when I had the chance. What you may see here is, of course, cropped (from landscape), while shooting into the light with minimal enhancements of the image presented. I would certainly like a second chance at observation of the bird, but it is unlikely. As I view the image in "preview," it appears overexposed (adding a slight amount of fill light as the bird appeared too dark). I had been experimenting with different exposure bias settings at the time of the shot with +2 or more possible in this image. The wind was wicked from the ENE and got more intense later in the morning. Before I left the park I attempted to photograph dragonflies (manual focus) that hovered erratically over a small pool of water while they fought the wind. Quite an entertaining experience in itself. In the image attached, the solitaire is making a return to nearby snag after feasting on a few berries.

Regards,

Bob Pelkey
http://swfloridabirder.blogspot.com

[Marina Scarr]

Great story, Bob, and nice to see you posting again! Agree with Gail on the magenta cast which can be easily remedied with a color balance adjustment away from the magenta toward the green. Love the translucence of the wings and that little head turn the bird gave you!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Congrats on spotting and photographing the rarity! This species is rare here too and one shows up every 4-5 years and gets all the birders excited. I spotted and photographed one last year so that was pretty exciting for me, too. I like the flying pose here and like Marina mentions the translucence in the wings is pretty neat. A bit of noise and slight IQ issue due to the crop, but considering this is only a second record for Florida this is quite a memento you got!

[Bob Pelkey]

Thank you Gail and Marina for pointing out the magenta cast. A testament to the value in participating in this great forum. I experimented with the "sliders" on another image taken at another venue and was intrigued that it produced evidence of sensor dust that I was not aware of. Need to clean that puppy. And thanks for the welcome back. I hope to find the time to post more often. The blog has completely dominated my spare time. With an update nearly ready for tomorrow, I still need to make a superficial review of images from Tigertail Beach Lagoon, Sanibel Lighthouse, Harns Marsh Preserve and Bunche Beach Preserve before I even report about the solitaire.

Very late in the day now, I am surprised that there was no report of the continued presence or not of the solitaire. There was a report of a Merlin that was apparently stalking the Townsend's a couple of days ago. What a delicacy it may have had.

Thank you, Daniel. Please direct me to your image(s) of your solitaire. I would very much like to view your bird.

After research on the species in Florida, it was determined that the Townsend's Solitaire was first observed in Florida in Orange County on 9 March 2008. The described behavior of the bird at that time is very similar to that observed in Pinellas County last week . . .
http://www.fosbirds.org/sites/default/files/FFNs/FFN371p016.pdf


Congrats on spotting and photographing the rarity! This species is rare here too and one shows up every 4-5 years and gets all the birders excited. I spotted and photographed one last year so that was pretty exciting for me, too. I like the flying pose here and like Marina mentions the translucence in the wings is pretty neat. A bit of noise and slight IQ issue due to the crop, but considering this is only a second record for Florida this is quite a memento you got!