Hello Michael,
What a good description of the call you give. When Vicki and i was in
Okanogan right where Wayne found the Alder Flycatcher, we had so many
Willows, is almost impossible that there all was Willows.
There are verry few birders what explore this area, also it is mosquito
haven that you also need gloves to protect you , great for Flycatchers.Gene
Hunn mention his recordings he took it seems to me that maybe someone
should examen this to come up with a results.For the record Gene is verry
good identifying birds by song and can hear good , where some of birders
are handycapped. When i go back next year with Patrick i will make an
effort to look for the Alder Flycatcher again.
Ruth

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> From: Michael Price <mprice at mindlink.bc.ca>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: Alder Flycatchers & Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
> Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 11:22 PM
>
> 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