ML35443741

Age and sex

Unknown age, Male - X

Media notes

Orange or buff breast was very notable

Observation details

This bird was seen after a long day of closely comparing Hammond’s, Dusky, Pacific-slope, and Olive-sided flycatchers, Western Wood-Peewees, and Say’s Phoebes. In fact, two (significantly larger) Say’s Phoebes were flitting about the immediate vicinity, and a Hammond’s Flycatcher was seen and photographed immediately after. Observed Impression: The first and most lasting impression we both had about this bird that set it apart from all other small flycatchers seen this day (in combination with its Empidonax shape and eye-ring) was the remarkably orangey wash to this very small flycatcher. NF seemed to recall some warm juvenile Empids in the Fall, but this was Spring. The eyeing appears to be a very thin teardrop shape. Wings appeared to be blackish (apart from wing bars) in the field, per MF. NF did not approach too closely, to allow MF to photograph the bird. While we have no scale to judge the bird by, it seemed much smaller than the Say’s Phoebes it was flying near, and appeared to us both to be noticeably smaller than all of the 20 or so Empidonax flycatchers that were seen well before and after this bird. From Attached Photos: Two light wing bars. Tail edges appear to be clean white, but there could be some back-lighting going on. Breast and (slightly lighter) throat have orangey wash, becoming whitish in the belly. No significant vesting is apparent. A hint of grey in the flanks may be real or an artifact of the wind showing bases of flank feathers? Cheeks, cap and nape are an olivey-grayish. Lower mandible appears fairly thin, and mostly or all orange-colored. Maxilla and feet dark. Eye dark. Behavior: This odd bird was viewed for about 15 minutes, as it repeatedly flew down from low branches of cottonwoods to the recently-watered lawn, to stick perches a foot or two off the ground, and back up to low branches 6-12 feet off the ground, on this very windy afternoon. The bird was seen to sally out in typical foraging behavior for a small flycatcher, although no flicking of wings or tail was observed. Vocalization: Some short sharp chirps were heard coming from the direction of the bird by MF, as she photographed the bird. She did not see the bird actually make the calls, which were heard when the bird flew out of sight for a few moments. No vocalizations were recorded. Recording in the wind with a cell phone or point-and-shoot would have been difficult or impossible – even with a longer observation. Guessing it may have been male as MF heard it giving a series of ringing whits, almost a musical series of chips but it was out of sight at the time. We didn't want to scare it off by searching for it. It came back to feed in the grass as windy as it was.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 40D

ISO

800

Focal length

560 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/250 sec

Dimensions

1738 pixels x 1624 pixels

Original file size

1.22 MB