I had an Empidonax species flycatcher in my yard yesterday that allowed me several good looks, to the point that I feel comfortable in calling it a Willow Flycatcher. It had a light gray head, noticably cresty, two whitish wing bars, very faint, and the eye ring was not noticable. I could not see back color looking from below. The lower mandible was more than yellow, more orangish. Belly whitish, with very faint to no gray wash across breast. He was flycatching primarily in black locust trees. I've probably seen more Willow Flycatchers in black locusts than willows, at least in this part of the world. They are more comfortable in small trees. We are not supposed to call empids when they are not singing, but I know from field experience that Cubans like Arturo Kirkconnell, who never hear them singing, will call them when they get a good look. Let's now play the elimination game: Eastern Phoebe immediately ruled out (virtually all the flycatchers in my yard are Phoebs). No tail wagging, lighter color, presence of faint wing bars ruled out the Phobe first thing. I occasionally get Eastern Wood-Pewees, which do have faint wing bars but are much darker and with a gray wash over the breast. That leaves the empid genus and the fun begins. A worn summer Acadian is close, but it has a flatter head, a somewhat more visible eye ring, has a slightly darker wash across the chest. While migrating birds can be anywhere, Acadians prefer darker woods in the presence of water and I have exactly this habitat right across the road, not 100 meters away. Acadians in my experience are also more sedentary than this lively fellow,. Least Flycatcher is somewhat smaller with a round head, more visible eye ring and a shorter bill. They normally appear big-eyed. That leaves Willow, rarest at this altitude, but again, this is migration, but the Alder is not as cresty, with a flatter, rounder head than Willow, has a more noticable eye ring, and more visible wing bars, even in worn fall plumage. In any case I'm making the call only for my personal list, and this was a year when I just didn't get out when empids were breeding, so I've seen none of them and empid. spp. would suffice. That's what I would have to put down on a fall count or be hooted out of the room by my fellows. However, I think we should give closer study to this complex in fall plumage. Flycatchers do tend to sit still in the open for several seconds at a time, giving us much better studies than the warblers which we often have to identify a piece at a time and rarely see the whole bird. That doesn't bother anybody. We are also looking at shorebirds this time of year at vast distances in fading light and having little trouble making out their subtle differences. I submit that if one can presume to I.D. peeps at 100 yards, that there are also subtle visual differences among the empids that can be determined when in good view. When Long and Short-billed Dowitchers were first split, many experienced field birders said they could only be reliably told apart by vocalization (remember that?), but that just led to closer study and now they are routinely called in the field. I'd welcome any further discussion on distinguishing fall empids that anyone would care to add. James Brooks Bear Run Jonesborough Washington County Tennessee =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================