ML642049045

Observation details

1st California (and 1st Lower-48) record of any Muscicapa flycatcher species! Found this morning by Eve Meier and Patricia Lynch who posted a description and cell-phone photo to the local list serve. Fortunately Garrett Lau went out and got good photos indicating Dark-sided Flycatcher. Small brown flycatcher, similar to Asian Brown Flycatcher which I have some experience with, and in the same genus as the Spotted Flycatchers that breed in my yard in Switzerland. Characterized by darker wings, a pronounced teardrop shaped eye-ring, and "dark sides" on the chest that give them a vested appearance. This appears to be a young bird with fresh tips on its wing feathers appearing like thin wing-bars. Bird was seen intermittently in the marsh at 37.421170, -122.073362 - but went missing for two hours while I was there, reappearing at about 5:30 briefly and then flying across the road to the parking lot (to the south) where it was extremely active flying from treetop to treetop, often perched on the very top of the planted conifers for about 60 seconds at a time. The scene was comical, with 80-100 birders of all ages, laden down with cameras and optics racing from tree to tree like a flash mob dodging cars. After about 10 minutes of this the bird flew off , and some time after that security came by and told us to leave the parking lot. Bird reappeared later (after I departed) in another section of the marsh.