Subject: Alder Flycatchers & Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
Date: Jun 27 23:22:11 1999
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

In June 1990, I along with John Cooper, a wildlife biologist for whom I was
working at the time, located a 'singing' ALDER FLYCATCHER Empidonac alnorum
in a large stand of Scotch broom at the base of the Iona North Jetty in
Greater Vancouver BC. Tne bird was both calling and singing fairly
frequently, staying low in the bush. When told of the location, Dale Jensen,
one of Vancouver BC's most knowledgeable and experienced birders, went to
that location, played the Peterson Alder Fly tape and had the bird reply
immediately with the identical 'song', thus confirming the identity of this
bird as an Alder Flycatcher and definitively *not* a WILLOW FLYCATCHER E.
traillii. As we were both experienced with the species (Dale far more than I
at the time--as a kid I knew Alder and Willow Fly's as fairly common summer
breeders in southern Ontario, and in one place could here one species on one
side, the other species on the other; then a few years after the Iona
observation, I got to see and hear a ton of Alder Fly's in the river
flood-plains W of Mackenzie BC) there was no question of a
mis-identification occurring.

The typical call was a burred, rising 're-Beep!', but when the bird faced
John and I it was possible to hear the quiet little tag-on syllable at the
end, thus, 're-Beeeah!'. The call-note, fairly frequently uttered, was a
quiet, slightly hollow 'tep' or 'pep'.

Contrast to the Willow's typical call, a clotted, loud 'rrit!' and its
typical, deliberately-phrased song 'rrrit...rrit-zue', downwardly pitched
and usually phoneticised as 'fitzbew'. What fools a lot of people (myself
included the very next day) is that Willow sometimes omits the introductory
'rrit' and condenses the song to a rapid 'rizoo', suggesting an Alder Fly.
The major difference is that the Alder Fly's emphasis is on the second
syllable, the Willow's on the first, even in the compressed song.

Note also the great difference between the calls: Alder, gives a quiet,
hollow 'pep' while Willow utters a loud 'rrrit' or, to other ears, 'whit'

Why the record was never accepted by the Vancouver BC rarities committee is
beyond me, as 1.) it was not the first record for Vancouver and 2.) it was
*independently confirmed* by a long-established birder with far more
experience of the species than I. I asked for a fair review of the
observation a couple of years ago but I guess I must have made too many
waves about it, 'cos I haven't heard anything since. But, hey, that's how
they've always done things here in Vancouver BC.

Too bad, as it not only would the datum help in figuring out the migration
dynamics of the species' western edge but would also be a valuable datum in
helping to establish a northbound vagrancy window for this species in the
greater Vancouver Checklist Area and help the local listers know the most
likely times to look for an extralimital Alder Fly. The timing of the Iona
observation, Week 2 June, was around the same time as the major influx of
this species into the Donna Creek area near Mackenzie in north-central BC;
clearly this was a an extralimital northbound individual rather than a
wandering failed breeder.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net