ML641462711

Observation details

Oh man. Here this goes. I arrived at the area where the Say's phoebe was reported at around 5:00 PM, as I mistakenly thought the Say's phoebe was on the other side of the Fisherman's Trail and my phone was dead. I ran into two birders, who told me I was only a few minutes late. I spent the next hour or so walking around the area where they said they last saw it. At 6:20 PM, a bird, which immediately struck me as phoebe-like, flew over my head from the area where the birders said it was. I ran after it to chase it, and it perched in a cedar tree for about a second before flying away, further down the trail, out of site. I managed to capture a photo of it as it was flying away. I initially was very doubtful, but after I brightened the photo, which clearly shows a bird with an orange wash on the belly like a Say's phoebe, I think I have enough confidence to report it. Later, I ran into Jason Horn, who said he had seen a bird that also looked like a Say's phoebe from the area where I came from. I've attached both the original photo and the brightened photo. If there is any reason to believe this could be anything other than the Say's phoebe, as even in my brief look I saw it had the flycatcher-like demeanor, I would be willing to recant this sighting. I'll leave it up to the regional reviewers, they can message me if they think otherwise, but I believe that there is nothing else that this could be, based on my photo, other birders' sightings, the overall demeanor/structure, and the fact it flew from where the bird was last seen.