Scott wrote:

>I had a chance to observe what I believed to be a Hammond's Flycatcher
in the woods along the White River near Lake Wenatchee. As I had the
bird in my scope it opened it's mouth a few times and then regurgitated
a suprisingly large amount of bug parts. The interior of it's mouth was
bright orange. Is this a feature of all empidonax flycatchers?<

We band Alder Flycatchers in the Anchorage area and the insides
of their mouths are orange. I don't know how "bright" it seems, but
it probably could be noted from a distance when the bird opens its
beak. I'll take a closer look next time to see whether it is mostly the
inner side of the beak or also the soft tissues that are involved.

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
CMaack at compuserve.com