[TN-Bird] Re: Help with bird ID
- From: Bill Pulliam <bb551@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Tallentad@xxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 08:30:00 -0500
Hi Ann,
The bird you describe sounds like an Eastern Wood Pewee or an Eastern
Phoebe. This time of year there are many young birds of both species
that can show a surprising amount of yellow or green on their
underparts. The dark head sounds a bit more like a Phoebe, but there
are two marks that help make the distinction. First, how prominent
were the two wingbars? Young Phoebes can have wingbars that range
from fairly inconspicuous to non-existent; Pewees have more prominent
wingbars. Secondly, Phoebes usually "wag" their tails when perched,
pumping them down and up every few seconds. Pewees don't normally do
this. Of course, a Phoebe can decide not to wag its tail for a
while, and any bird can wag its tail occasionally, but this is
usually a helpful distinguishing mark.
You didn't mention any eye ring. On the drab grayish-brownish-
greenish flycatchers, it's important to look for an eyering (just as
important as wingbars). Yellow-bellied Flycatchers have conspicuous
eyerings as well as prominent wingbars. So do the very closely
related and much more common Acadian Flycatchers, and young Acadian
Flycatchers this time of year can also have a lot more yellow below
than the adults do in spring and summer. Pewees have very faint
eyerings, and Phoebes often have none at all. The head of a Yellow-
bellied Flycatcher is also about the same color as the rest of its
upperparts, not notably darker. Yellow-bellieds and Acadians are
somewhat smaller than Phoebes and Pewees and MUCH smaller than
kingbirds. They also tend to flick their tails up and down fairly
often while perched.
Just to complicate matters further, this time of year Pewees very
often sing a monotonous, repetitive "puh-wee" song.
Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
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