A recent message on BirdKY jostled some old memories of bird calls that can be confused with one another. I refer to the whit (or wit) call that is produced by three western empids (Dusky, Gray, and Buff-breasted) and two eastern empids (Least and Willow). Lowther (1999; BNA 446), in treating the vocalizations of Alder Flycatcher, digresses to note that the whit call of Willow Flycatcher "is similar to calls of several other Empidonax flycatchers" [Least, Dusky, Gray, or Buff-breasted], a fact that is repeated by numerous others who deal with empid calls. Sedgwick (2000; BNA 533), while discussing the vocalizations of Willow Flycatcher, suggests that the whit call of Willow is "thick and dry, but softer than the more emphatic whit of Least Flycatcher," indicating that sufficient field experience may allow some field observers, who surely surpass my level of skill, to separate these species by extremely subtle differences in that call. It has been my past experience in reviewing written documentation of empid records for use in the Central Southern Region winter reports in American Birds/Nat. Audubon Soc. Field Notes/North American Birds (1991-2000), as well as empid records submitted on CBCs in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee (1998-2002), that some observers are under the impression that the whit/wit call is definitive evidence for Least Flycatcher. I thought I would call attention to the fact that several other empids use this call and that due prudence is called for by those who attempt to identify empids based on this call note alone. If this call is used in conjunction with morphological characters that separate the various empids, it may well be of great value as an aid to field i.d. of calling (not singing) empids, but relying on it alone as a way to i.d. empids is a risky proposition. I'd be grateful for other thoughts on this i.d. issue from those who have had much experience with the whit/wit call of both Least and Willow flycatchers. Steve Stedman Cookeville, TN =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================