Dear Tweeters,

I was wondering if anyone else got to see the STFL in Rockport?

A number of people have e-mailed me, asking for more details about this Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, which was found by Gail and Steve Aslanian in Rockport on May 31. The Aslanians found the bird around three PM, I believe. They were able to phone me, and I got up there around four, where I found Marv Breece, who (luckily for him) was birding just around the corner. The four of us watched the bird for about an hour. We had all visited Texas just a few weeks ago and seen many STFL's. I tried to play devil's advocate for a while and figure what other species it could possibly be, but there really was no other possibility. The bird had a pale grey face with dark eye-mark, long tail (not super-long like a male STFL's tail, but way longer than a kingbird would have, and strongly forked, like the tail of a Black Drongo). It behaved as STFL's and kingbirds always do, hawking flying insects from conspicuous perches. We all got to see the reddish coloration of the wing linings. The bir!
d perched next to a Tree Swallow for a few minutes; it was far bigger than the swallow.

Howard Armstrong showed up around 5:20 and watched the bird for fifteen minutes or so. Two other fellows who were looking for raptors also observed the bird, but I don't recall their names. Anyway, no one had the slightest doubt but that it was a STFL.

The last of us (Howard and I) left the bird at around 5:45.

Incidentally, efforts were made to phone the Birdbox. Unfortunately, the cellular phones kept cutting out in the mountainous terrain, and it wasn't until I got home that I could dial up the Birdbox and Tweeters.

I took a a dozen or so photographs with a point-and-shoot film camera. I do not expect very good results, as I am one of the world's worst photographers, but when I get them developed I will see if I can get them scanned to make them available, if anybody wants to see them.

Good birding!



Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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