Today, after a string of not-so-nice-weather days, we had a pretty good haul out at Fry's Landing. Though we had a few net checks of 3 birds at a time (which made the time this morning mosey along at a fairly sedate pace), we ended up with 17 different species, 3 of which were new! These included Blackburnian warblers (just females, we're hoping for a male so we can get pictures), a couple Blackpoll warblers (again females) and a Philadelphia vireo.
Also making the day interesting were 2 Empidonax flycatchers, which we eventually, after many obscure measurements and moments of intense confusion and frustration, deemed Trail's flycatchers. Trail's are technically split into Willow and Alder flycatchers, but we we refer to them by their old species name for banding purposes because we're just not sophisticated enough to tell the difference between the two. It is possible to tell the difference by song, but for some reason they won't sing when we have them in the hand. It may be because they object to being manhandled and having various rulers/ measuring thingies shoved at various appendages and having some metal band permanently stuck on their leg. And there aren't any females around to impress. Who knows.
Alder Flycatcher (top) and Willow Flycatcher (bottom). These pictures are from Cornell's All About Birds website.
For more information on flycatchers, or any of these birds, check out Cornell University's All About Birds website (see link below). It's a go-to for bird id and basic information, and also has videos, calls, and information on birding, bird conservation, how to attract birds to your backyard... basically anything you might want to know involving birds.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/
Enjoy the sunny weather, and happy birding!
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