“Mystery Bird” Photos

by David Seibel

These photos were taken along a gravel road north of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, near the Stafford–Barton county line, between 18:45 and 19:00 hours on 2 August 2003. All were taken with my Nikon CoolPix 4500 (at 4× optical zoom) attached to an 80mm Kowa scope (at 25×). To adjust for the evening lighting, I modified the color balance in each photo very slightly (and identically) so that the photos closely approximate the actual appearance of the bird, but note that the first two images are slightly underexposed relative to the last three. Earlier in the afternoon, the bird looked much less brownish overall, the underparts appearing a uniform dark fuscous except for a narrow, vertical oval-shaped whitish area in the center of the belly.

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

Photo #4

Photo #5