ML611558038
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Continuing bird found November 23, 2023. Small Empid flycatcher with two white wing bars and white edges to the secondaries and tertials, primary projection appeared medium to me (references state its short but it's difficult to judge in the field for me). Gray overall, lacking any greenish or green/yellow tones. Head lacked a peaked crown. White eye ring, not expanded in rear that I could see, bill longish, with dark brown/black upper mandible and orange lower mandible. Throat, breast, belly and sides light gray, lacking any olive tones, olive in the breast or sides as in other Empidonax. Tail appeared long for an empid, but difficult to judge on a lone bird, but the wagging habit similar to Eastern Phoebe is typical of this species and the bird regularly wagged its tail while perched. Also the white edges to the outer retrices were visible during close views in the scope, another distinctive feature of this species. One observer showed me a photo of the bird taking flight and the white outer edge was visible in the photo. Other flycatchers in this genus show obvious greenish tones. Western Flycatcher is much greener with a bolder greenish/yellow eye ring, expanded at the rear. Hammond's Flycatcher is small, with a short bill and typically in fall shows a gray head contrasting with the greenish back and upper breast and the primary projection is long. It appears proportionally big-headed. Both show a peaked head shape. Willow and Alder Flycatchers are dull green/brown, Acadian is much greener and Yellow-bellied is very green/yellow. Least Flycatcher is small billed and has darker wings with more contrasting white wingbars. Dusky Flycatcher is not as pale, and has a bolder eye ring, does not wag its tail and has less orange on the lower mandible. None of the other species wag their tails like an Eastern Phoebe. There is a lot of blowout with the bright sunlight and a pale bird. Add distance and the result is photos that are not very good.
Technical information
- Camera
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 8.57 MB