Years ago, long before I gained such limited expertise as I now have in
identifying Empidonax flycatchers, a bird of that family appeared at Thornton
Creek ( Lincoln County) on the astonishingly late date of December 30 (1976).
By its plumage and calls, I knew it was not one of the local breeding species,
but was never able to satisfactorily identify it. At that time, the kind of
information now available to assist one in making critical analysis of empids
was simply non-existent. So I was left with taking such notes as I was capable
of taking from the information available at the time.( in other words, the
Peterson and Golden field guides)
Now that better information is available, particularly on the Cornell website,
one can make better comparisons, of both plumage and voice, between the living
bird and those shown and recorded online. I probably will never know for
certain, but by comparing my notes with those photos and voice recordings, I
now believe they are most consistent with Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. However,
it is not the plumage or calls of the 1976 bird about which I have a question,
but rather the behavior.
From my original notes: "A high pitched, loud 'cheek', repeated about 10-15
times at one to two second intervals. Also apparently another note of soft
quality as several times I saw the bird tip its head and utter a note I could
not hear. Habits: Preferred perches from 15-35 feet, occasionally lower. Sat
motionless a good deal of the time but usually flicked its tail and its wings
after alighting, and always flicked its wings when it gave the inaudible note
mentioned above. This flicking of the wings was a little more than a quick
flicking, more of a 3 or 4 second quivering of the wings."
I have never seen any other empid exhibit this behavior. Has anyone else seen
one do so? And I would be particularly interested in hearing from any one who
has experience with the empids which are not native to Oregon, especially with
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. If, in return anyone is interested in seeing my
limited description of the plumage of that bird, I can supply it.
Also, just by way of general comments, that December 30 was a bright sunny day
with temperatures around the mid-fifties. And I observed the bird for a period
of about fifteen minutes.
Darrel
