Hello from California, In the Sierra Nevada Forest California this past weekend I saw an extraordinary green bird. (1 Viewer)

[tnt92592]

here is a link of what the bird looked like (wasn't able to get a photo of the bird I saw.) - Glistening-green Tanager - Chlorochrysa phoenicotis - Birds of the World.
This link is the image of a Glistening-Green Tanager which I understand has a range of the subtropical forest of western Columbia and Ecuador, elevation range of 2,300-7200 feet (the elevation I saw the bird was around 7,200 with coordinates of 37.40050, -119.17227). I understand that the habitat range of a glistening green Tanager is over 4,000 miles from where I spotted the exotic green bird on 16 Sept 2023. I saw the bird with my 12 power Vortex binos and would estimate I was about 50-70 yards from the bird Is it possible that I saw a glistening-green Tanager? or is there another species of bird that looks similar to the glistening-green Tanager that is more likely to be seen in the Sierra National Forest, CA? I've looked at images of immature male Summer Tanagers which are bright yellow green and the bird I saw was much greener looking exactly like the link I sent above of the glistening green Tanager. Any thoughts and comments on this are most appreciated as this is a mystery I would like to resolve.

 

[delia todd]

Hi TNT and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. I'll move your post to the ID forum as they're better able to sort these problems out.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum.

 

[foresttwitcher]

Have you checked out female Painted Bunting?

 

[cerw8385]

Orange-crowned Warbler can look olive-green. More green than Summer Tanager, but nowhere near as bright as the Glistening-Green Tanager.
For example: ML177107591 Orange-crowned Warbler Macaulay Library

 

[KC Foggin]

What a gorgeous bird!

Hi tnt and a warm welcome to you! I hope you enjoy your time with us

 

[qwerty5]

Painted Bunting would be very rare. Orange-crowned Warbler sounds plausible. Glistening-green Tanager is impossible.

 

[tom baxter]

Green tailed towhee seems like a good candidate.

 

[nartreb]

Most of us can think of a few bright-green exotic birds very similar to the tanager, and one or more dully- or partially-greenish North American birds that might plausibly be mistaken for bright green when seen from half a football field away (even with binoculars). But a bird that might plausibly be found in the mountains of eastern California and looks a lot like the tanager? That's a tall order.
Either there's something missing from your description that a seasoned birder should have noticed right away... actually, that's the problem. You don't give a description, just a photo of a bird that can't possibly be the right one. The bird you saw was "like" the photo... but it must also have been unlike the photo in various ways. Can you give any more details? What did you see (and not see)? Wings, back, head, beak, legs, belly... what color were each of these? What was your impression of the bird's size? How was it behaving? Was it perched, singing, flying?

Two kinds of vividly green bird come to my mind as possible in California:
a) a hummingbird of some kind - extremely small, extremely active flyer, hard to mistake for anything else but maybe you only saw it perched?
b) a parakeet (presumably an escaped pet) - fairly distinctive overall shape, very distinctive beak shape, often noisy.

 

[KenM]

Green tailed towhee seems like a good candidate.

Do they occur at that elevation?

 

[lockbreeze926]

None of the answers are very likely, and an error of some sort is the best explanation, but there are many species of parrot/parakeet found in California, including some with established breeding populations. Not easy to confuse a parrot and a tanager, but I've done worse.

As to why it's looming around mountain-tops? Hard to say, but maybe it's dodging the hail of bullets.

 

[KenM]

I suppose it’s worth asking the question if any essentially South American land birds from the c4000 miles point, have ever occurred in the USA? 😮

 

[tom baxter]

Do they occur at that elevation?

Yes they are very common at that elevation. I think it is probably the most plausible option aside from hummingbird based on the description. Either that, or also likely could be a mistaken impression of the bird. I think both of those options are far more statistically likely than an exotic bird in the high mountains, but of course this is all a guessing game.

 

[connorco]

I suppose it’s worth asking the question if any essentially South American land birds from the c4000 miles point, have ever occurred in the USA? 😮

A few migratory species have... A couple Elaenia's and other flycatchers.

 

[Butty]

A few migratory species have... A couple Elaenia's and other flycatchers.

More interesting than the rest of this thread! Do you know which species? If they were 'just' tyrant flys, I guess one might be left wondering if they were simply misidentified... ☹️

 

[Michael Long]

More interesting than the rest of this thread! Do you know which species? If they were 'just' tyrant flys, I guess one might be left wondering if they were simply misidentified... ☹️

I know of White-crowned Elaina, Small-billed Elaina, and Crowned Slaty Flycatcher

 

[tnt92592]

Painted Bunting would be very rare. Orange-crowned Warbler sounds plausible. Glistening-green Tanager is impossible.

Good to know the glistening-green Tanager is impossible, though thus far the female Painting Bunting is the only other candidate of bird species that looked like the bird I saw on the western side of the Sierra Mountains, Sierra National Forest, California.

 

[tnt92592]

Orange-crowned Warbler can look olive-green. More green than Summer Tanager, but nowhere near as bright as the Glistening-Green Tanager.
For example: ML177107591 Orange-crowned Warbler Macaulay Library

based on range of the various birds species proposed on various threads and the images of these various bird species perhaps I did see an orange-crowned Warbler.

 

[qwerty5]

The bird was flying on and about a branch of a Ponderosa pine tree, about 40-60 feet off the ground. I do recall that it perched on a tree branch for a few seconds and then flew out of sight.

This behavior sounds good for Orange-crowned Warbler.

 

[Trinovid]

I understand that the habitat range of a glistening green Tanager is over 4,000 miles from where I spotted the exotic green bird on 16 Sept 2023. I saw the bird with my 12 power Vortex binos and would estimate I was about 50-70 yards from the bird Is it possible that I saw a glistening-green Tanager? or is there another species of bird that looks similar…

Incredible looking bird and I don’t think it would be the first time a bird was seen where they weren’t expected to be.