ML199005871

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I had identified this bird as a Least Flycatcher in the field and on my original checklist, but several features of this bird led me and others to question the original ID. After consultation from various empid "experts", Least Flycatcher is the final conclusion. I had submitted to eBird as Hammond's Flycatcher and the original notes are below: The bird was located in the middle of the park, in a copse of smaller, brushy trees close to one of the very large trees in the open area near the cabin. I heard an empid-like, soft "whit" call, which I immediately suspected was a Least Flycatcher. I am reasonably familiar with Least Flycatcher call, and in fact had seen and heard one just the day before at San Bernard NWR. Upon locating the calling bird, I found a small empid with a bold white eyering. The eyering is perhaps slightly elongated at the rear of the eye. The bird continued calling while I was watching it. The bird did appear a little too olive on the back, and yellow below, for a Least Flycatcher, but considering the combination of call and eyering, and with Least Flycatcher being by far the most likely empid on the UTC in winter, I put it down as a Least. On arriving home several hours later, I uploaded a photo to the Birding the Upper Texas Coast Facebook page, and Justin Bosler immediately commented that the bird was a "bona fide Western", on the basis of the long primary extension, yellow-olive coloration, and crested appearance. Looking at the photos, it is structurally perhaps more Western than Least, with a relatively small eye in relation to the head, and a smaller-headed look than might be apparent on a Least, and the plumage features noted by Justin are also clear in the photos although I did not notice them in the field - a problem with having "assumed" the bird was a Least as soon as I had first heard it calling. However, my original notes stated that I couldn't match the calls my bird was making, to any calls I could find online of Cordilleran or Pacific-slope Flycatcher. The call was most similar to a Least. This was the main stumbling block for me in accepting the ID as a "Western" Flycatcher. The day after posting the photos, Justin Bosler contacted me again to say he had changed his mind and now believed this bird is in fact a Hammond's Flycatcher. I listened to Hammond's Flycatcher calls online, and they appeared to be a close match for the "whit" calls my bird was making, although I did not get a recording of the call at the time. Aside from the matching call, other features supporting the ID of Hammond's Flycatcher are: Small bill (much smaller than "Western" Flycatcher and considerably smaller than Dusky), crested appearance (unlike round-headed Least), bold but not super-elongated eye ring (in photos, Cordilleran and Pacific-slope eye rings usually seem much more teardrop shaped), long primary projection (obvious in the photos), "stepped" look from secondaries to primaries (said to be a feature of Hammond's from my research online), and olive-green back and yellowish tinge below (indicating bird still in fairly fresh fall plumage). This record is not without precedent as a Hammond's Flycatcher was seen nearby in the same county on the CBC on December 16th (although apparently a different individual)".

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

ISO

250

Focal length

215 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/160 sec

Dimensions

3806 pixels x 2535 pixels

Original file size

1.46 MB