Lauralee:

I've noticed that Olive-sided Flycatchers sometimes seem to have their
crown feathers elevated a bit and look like they have a crest. Typically
they sit at the top of dead trees as you describe and they look chunkier
than most flycatchers, mainly because they have a proportionately shorter
tail compared to most other flycatchers. They show a distinct pattern on
the breast which the Peterson guide aptly describes as "like an unbottoned
vest" (ie. dark sides of breast with whitish stripe down the middle) if
seen from the front. But they are a bit bigger than most sparrow species.


Richard (Dick) E. Johnson
Department of Zoology
Washington State University
Pullman, WA
johnsonre at wsu.edu



>Dear Tweeters,
>
>I'm an enthusiastic if somewhat spottily-informed novice birder, with
>several field guides and a pair of cheap binoculars. Last weekend,
>while my husband and I were driving around in the general vicinity
>of the cranberry bogs near Gray's Harbor, I thought I heard an olive-
>sided flycatcher (one of the few birdsongs I can identify,) so I asked
>if we could park and hang out for a bit in hopes of finally seeing one
>of these guys.
>
>We pulled over by the side of the road, and I got out my binoculars,
>and spotted some motion in the top of a large dead tree. Two birds,
>approximately sparrow-sized, VERY plump, sort of grayish (no
>distinctive markings that I could make out, although I sure
>tried,)...but the puzzling thing was that they both seemed to have
>CRESTS. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought they were titmice
>off on a holiday to regions not usually explored by same. I posted
>this question to a webpage, and the guy said "probably a Stellar's
>Jay." HARUMPH! ..."Or a Cedar Waxwing." DOUBLE HARUMPH!
>No "masks" on these guys -- that much at least was clear.
>
>So...what could they have been? Flycatchers having a bad feather
>day? They REALLY did seem to have crests. My husband, whose
>eyesight is better than mine, thought so too.
>
>Any clues?
>
>Lauralee Smith (list member for exactly one day so far!)