In response to Rocky Rothrock's question about Pacific-slope vs. Cordilleran
Flycatchers, this may not help much, but the situation in Washington state
is that Pacific-slope Flycatchers occur well east from the coast. I recently
saw them for the first time in Washington on the east slope of the Cascades
near the town of Twisp. The males were very vocal, as I heard three different
ones calling, and got an excellent view of one of them. The Cordilleran
apparently breeds only in the extreme southeast corner of the state.
Ironically, a place called Kamiak Butte, which is 15 miles north of where I
live in Pullman, is supposed to be one of the best if not the best place to
see them. I haven't yet seen them there. The call of the male is said to be
the only reliable way to identify the species. The ones I heard gave calls
that varied between "tsee-ee-eep" and "tsee-ee-up:" not like the call of
any other Empidonax I have yet heard around here.

Mark Crotteau Pullman, WA <crotteau at wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu>

====================

From: "Alexander (Sandy) Koonce" <koonce at ULTRIX.UOR.EDU>
Subject: Re: "Western" Flycatcher

From: Sandy Koonce, U. of Redlands (Redlands, CA)

According, again, to David Gaines' "Birds of Yosemite and the East
Slope", "Western" Flycatchers are locally uncommon breeders below 5000
feet and rare breeders below 6500 feet on the west slope, and are rare
breeders below 9000 feet on the east slope, with high elevation records
of around 10,000 feet. It also says there that these species are rare
fall transients to treeline on both sides of the crest, but doesn't state
what the approximate dates of migration would be (although judging from
the bar graphs, I would bet on mid-August to the end of October).

Sandy
koonce at ultrix.uor.edu

====================

From: "Barbara J. Combs" <bcombs at EDNET1.OSL.OR.GOV>

re: Cordilleran vs. Pacific Slope Flycatcher vocalizations

This issue is very difficult indeed. I have heard from some
people who rely on recorded bird sounds and, just because a
particular bird is recorded east of the Cascade Mountains in
Oregon, the bird must be a Cordilleran Flycatcher. Then, if, by
chance a wandering Pacific Slope Flycatcher was recorded east of
the Cascades, the erroneous conclusion is that the vocalizations
of the two species are nearly impossible to distinguish, based on
the recording. When will birders have noninvasive remote DNA
analyzers? If the crossbills are split, I'll want mine sooner
rather than later.

--
Barbara Combs obie '70
Eugene, OR
bcombs at ednet1.osl.or.gov

==================

From: Alvaro Patricio Jaramillo <jaramill at SFU.CA>
Subject: Re: "Western" Flycatcher

Joe MOrlan writes:
>
> I have also heard substantial rumors of a soon-to-be-published
> study claiming Pacific-slope Flycatcher vocalizations heard and/or
> recorded from Cordilleran Flycatchers throughout most of the
> latter's range.

Dick Cannings and Gene Hunn have worked on the complex in the interior of
British Columbia and Washington as well as their respective coasts. They
have found that the situation here is much less clear cut than in
California. Birds in the interior appear to have call notes that are
intermediate between the two "species" and therefore most of the birds in
the interior are as such unidentifiable! This zone of intermediates
appears to be quite wide. I have seen the manuscript, it should be
published quite soon.

BTW- The "Western" Flycatcher is the only species I know that was split
based in part on differences in a "call" not the full male "song". I
realize that being suboscines these flycatchers could be considered to
lack a true song altogether, but what are the functions of the squeaky
song versus the call notes in this species? I imagine that the "song"
should have a completely territorial defense purpose, while the "call"
should have the aim of attracting a female, otherwise I cannot see how the
two types could maintain themselves separate.

Al Jaramillo
jaramill at sfu.ca
Vancouver, BC.