Hello All,
I hate to do this, but I wanted to get the word out of an unidentified Empid
I saw about 30 minutes ago at Gravelly Point next to Reagan National Airport in
Arlington. The bird was definitively NOT a Phoebe, the only likely flycatcher
around this time of year. I was standing next to the fenced-in area in the
area closest to the river near the few pine trees when it flew from behind one
of them and landed very briefly on the fence - perhaps 3-5 seconds. In that
time I was able to get the overall coloration and structure of the bird, but
that's about it.
It did not resemble most of the eastern empids in my opinion, but Least would
come closest. The bird was grey overall above with a proportionately smaller
head than a Least relative to the body. The bill was quite short and
moderately thick at the base. I did not see clearly whether it had strong
wingbars as it was facing me, but when it flew it seemed to have a longish tail
relative to other empids. It had a fairly dusky throat and upper breast,
fading to more pale white toward the legs and vent. Eyering was not prominent,
but there. It did not vocalize.
I have no idea what species this might represent, but I don't think it was an
eastern bird as washed grey as it was in the throat and upper breast. I
searched the entire area for a while after but could not relocate the bird.
Hopefully it can be refound and photographed.
By the way, the target county bird (Meadowlark) was present and
raspberry-calling from the fenced-in area.
Jay Keller,
Arlington
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