Saturday, November 28, 2009

Myiarchus flycatcher south of Florence

Daniel Farrar called me this morning to tell me that he had just seen a small Myiarchus flycatcher in his back yard near Woahink Lake, 5 miles south of Florence. He wanted me to come down and take some photos. When I arrived 10 minutes later, the bird had left, but we were eventually able to refind it in a small shore pine and study it at leasure.

Based on overall coloration, the amount of rufous in the wings and tail, and the tail pattern we lean towards a hatch-year Ash-throated Flycatcher. The bird never called, and we did not see the color of the lining inside the bill, so we can't confidently rule out Nutting's Flycatcher.

Here are some pictures of the bird, taken around 11:45 am this morning. Comments as to the bird's identity are welcome (you can click on any picture to see a larger image).





This picture shows a little of the mouth lining. Unfortunately, the lighting is too poor to make a confident ID, but the color does not look bright orange to me, rather flesh-colored, which would rule out Nutting's and point toward Ash-throated.










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