Last year the Maryland-DC Records Committee evaluated Maryland's first record of "Western" Flycatcher in the affirmative. In order to do this we spent a day at the NMNH looking at skins. Using my notes from that day, I find the Manhattan bird a bit confusing.
I spent about 20 minutes last night and felt comfortable ruling out Least & Acadian Flycatchers. Similarly I don't think this has the right jizz for Hammonds or Dusky. I also agree that it most closely looks like Western/Yellow-bellied. The major factor that least supports Western is the shape of the eye-ring. In Western the eyering often has an exaggerated posterier margin creating the tear drop shape and it often disappears at the 12 o'clock position. This bird has a complete eyering without an exaggerated teardrop. Nevertheless, I can find photos of Western on the internet that show similar eye-rings to the Inwood bird. The factors that I believe support Western Flycatcher are as follows: 1. dull brownish-black ground color of the flightfeathers (in yellow-bellied these are noticeably darker and blacker); 2. the relatively small dark patch between the lower wing bar and the pale secondary panel (in YB this patch is wider and darker); 3. the primary pattern (in YB there is even spacing of tips between p5-6 and p6-7) where this bird shows a single wide space between p5-6; the relatively long tail (in specimens body size was virtually identical between western and YB, but the tail of the former was about 1cm longer); 5. the eye-ring appears to be white (which can admittedly occur in YB, but is more commonly yellowish). Given all that I have said this is an Empidonax in winter, so I may be completely wrong. It would be great to get more photos, especially detailing the shape of the bill from above or below, a sharper picture of the wing tip, the size of the post wingbar dark patch and the face in profile. Hugh On Fri, Dec 9, 2016 at 8:40 AM, Shaibal Mitra <shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu> wrote: > Having asked for more posts to this list, I'll contribute one. > > My thought process on any late (after early October) Empidonax in the > Northeast is roughly as follows: > > 1. Can we rule out Least? > Least Flycatcher is an abundant species and more prone to late occurrence > than other common eastern species. In this case, the NY bird appears too > green, with too long of a primary projection. Its eyering also is narrower > on the top and bottom and longer to the rear than I would expect for Least. > > 2. Can we rule out the narrow-billed western North American species > (Hammond's, Dusky, Gray)? > These three potential vagrants have bills shaped very differently from all > our common eastern species, which have spade-shaped bills. The NY bird > clearly has a spade-shaped bill, so these can be excluded. > > 3. This leaves us with two groups: (A) Willow/Alder/Acadian, which are > large and lanky (and especially unlikely in December); and (A) > "Western"/Yellow-bellied, which are small, relatively bright green and > yellow, very similar-looking, and both proven to occur from time to time in > late fall in the Northeast. Ken Feustel found a Yellow-bellied at Jones > Beach in December 2009: > > https://flic.kr/p/PteiBu > > --and he and Bob Paxton have summarized the rare but regular late-season > occurrence of this species: > > http://www.nybirds.org/KBsearch/y2002v52n3/y2002v52n3p220-221paxton.pdf# > http://www.nybirds.org/KBsearch/y2010v60n2/v2010v60n2p90-94feustel.pdf# > > The bird just doesn't look like a Willow/Alder type ("Traill's > Flycatcher") by virtue of overall appearance. Willow especially would not > look so green, would not show such a long primary projection, and would > have a less distinct eyering. Alder averages closer to the NY bird in each > of these respects, but just not enough to make me consider it seriously. I > did, however, get an impression of Acadian when first scanning images > (especially the more distant ones) of the NY bird. The next thing I looked > at was leg color: they appear gray. > > This is interesting because Acadian, Yellow-bellied, and "Western" have > gray legs, whereas the others have blacker legs. So, picking up here with > these three, I would cautiously exclude Acadian because the bill does not > look big enough, the face-throat area doesn't look right, and the eye-ring > is too bold and asymmetrical. > > As noted by many already, distinguishing Yellow-bellied from "Western" can > be very difficult, especially when dealing with images rather actual views > of a living bird. My initial impression was that the bird was consistent > with Yellow-bellied, but that it looked a bit smaller-headed and more > crested (points favoring "Western") than I was entirely comfortable with. > That said, I think an actual "Western" would be more richly colored (I > don't know them well, but I know that Yellow-bellied can be surprisingly > drab) and would have a much more obvious small-headed, crested jizz. In > addition, I think that the high contrast wings look right for > Yellow-bellied and less consistent with my (admittedly inexperienced) > impression of "Western." > > I would lean to Yellow-bellied pending further information about calls, > further photos, and further commentary from others. > > Shai Mitra > Bay Shore > > ________________________________________ > From: bounce-121070624-3714...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-121070624-3714944@ > list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Andrew Baksh [birdingd...@gmail.com] > Sent: Friday, December 9, 2016 7:20 AM > To: Donna Schulman > Cc: Angus Wilson; Isaac Grant; <nysbirds-l@cornell.edu> > Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Manhattan Empidonax - Inwood Hill Park > > Always tough at this time of the year. For me, I would also include > Acadian to the list of possibilities. > > -------- > "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the > ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own > abhorrence." ~ Frederick Douglass > > 風 Swift as the wind > 林 Quiet as the forest > 火 Conquer like the fire > 山 Steady as the mountain > Sun Tzu<http://refspace.com/quotes/Sun_Tzu> The Art of War< > http://refspace.com/quotes/The_Art_of_War> > > (__/) > (= '.'=) > (") _ (") > Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! > > Andrew Baksh > www.birdingdude.blogspot.com<http://www.birdingdude.blogspot.com> > > On Dec 8, 2016, at 11:55 PM, Donna Schulman <queensgir...@gmail.com< > mailto:queensgir...@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Angus, > > This looks like the Whatbird discussion: http://www.whatbird.com/forum/ > index.php?/topic/157667-eastern-wood-pewee-nyc/ > > There is also some discussion now going on, on the New York Birders > Facebook page. > > Donna > > --------------------------------------- > Donna L. Schulman > Forest Hills, NY > queensgir...@gmail.com<mailto:queensgir...@gmail.com> > > > > <http://www.flickr.com/photos/queensgirl> > > On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 11:41 PM, Angus Wilson <oceanwander...@gmail.com< > mailto:oceanwander...@gmail.com>> wrote: > Hi Isaac, Thanks for bring this to everyone's attention. > > As most readers will already know, the field identification of empidonax > flycatchers in the fall can be extremely difficult but not impossible. I > think it would be educational and healthy for the list for us to have an > online discussion of this bird beyond the usual 'it's still here' updates. > > Based on the eye ring and shape of the bird the main contenders are > WESTERN FLYCATCHER (WEFL) and YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (YBFL). Even though > YBFL pass through New York City area with some regularity on migration they > are extremely rare at such a late date, although not unheard of. Using > 'likelihood' is therefore not really appropriate and we must rely on > images, live views, and if we get really lucky, some vocalization. > > I'd be very curious to hear the arguments advocating YBFL put forward on > Whatbird as mentioned but not expanded upon in John Keane's written > comments. Perhaps someone who has seen them can paraphrase? > > At this late hour I am happy to remain agnostic about the identification > and would like to hear the arguments. Any empid in December is exciting and > a great find. > > Hopefully local birders will be able to refind the bird tomorrow and > obtain additional photos. If not, we already have a good set of images to > chew on. > > Cheers, Angus Wilson > New York City > > > > On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 9:45 PM, isaac grant <hosesbroadb...@gmail.com< > mailto:hosesbroadb...@gmail.com>> wrote: > This was just posted to ebird. If any are not on it have a look. > > http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32922727 > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/ > NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > Archives: > The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@ > cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> > Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! > -- > > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/ > NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > Archives: > The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@ > cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> > Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! > -- > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/ > NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > Archives: > The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@ > cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> > Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! > -- > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > -- Hugh McGuinness Washington, D.C. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
