[TN-Bird] Re: Help with bird ID

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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