Subject: Empid dilemma
Date: Apr 23 19:02:10 2002
From: Jason Paulios - jpaulios at hotmail.com


Today I left my house with the goal of finding my first spring flycatcher,
well I found it....but what is it!!? I have been searching a new area, for
me, on the trails of St. Martin's campus in Lacey, WA (Thurston CO.) and
today came across an Empid SP. in the same spot I've been finding some good
warblers. The bird did give scolding call notes on two occasions (10 a.m.
and 4:30 p.m.), I have no experience with Dusky or Hammonds (just didn't
search very hard last summer) but can say that it was not a Pacific-Slope
Flycatcher. The call note was somewhere in the range of a Hairy/Downy
Woodpecker, and I seem to remember the P/Slope having a high pitch call
note. Anyways, behavior was typical Empid. although it did flick tail and
wings together when "agitated", something I've read Hammond's can do more
than others. The wing projection seemed moderate to short, and I can
unfortunately not add anything about the bill color or eyering. I'm leaning
towards Hammond's Flycatcher, but I don't have the info to back it up. So
I'll leave it Empid sp. Hopefully it will be back tomorrow and singing!
I'd appreciate any discussion on call notes (and empid arrival times), there
seems to be a gap in field recordings here.
OTHER BIRDS:
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Red-breasted Sapsuckers
5 Orange-crowned Warblers
6 Common Yellowthroats
Many Townsend's Warblers
12 Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtles)
1 Lincoln's Sparrow
2 Savannah Sparrows
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
5 Purple Finch

Jason Paulios
Olympia, WA
JPaulios at hotmail.com

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