Subject: Empid dilemma
Date: Apr 23 21:00:23 2002
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at shaw.ca


Jason and Tweeters,

Your bird was almost certainly a HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER. I am presuming
that you eliminated PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER by visual field marks.
These are the only two Empids to expect in W Washington in April.
DUSKY FLYCATCHER is a very rare (but probably regular) migrant, and
WILLOW FLYCATCHERS are not expected before about May 20.

The typical call of Hammond's is a loud, rather low-pitched chip note,
which I would translate as "wip!". It is very different from any call
given by Pacific-Slope. There are other calls given by Hammond's,
especially in aggressive encounters.

I just sent a message about Hammond's/Pacific-Slope arrival dates in
Vancouver, B.C. to the "Island Birders" group, and I will forward it
to Tweeters.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: Jason Paulios <jpaulios at hotmail.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 7:02 PM
Subject: Empid dilemma


> 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.

< snip >
>
> Jason Paulios
> Olympia, WA
> JPaulios at hotmail.com
>