Hi Meena and All,
Since Empidonax flycatchers can be notoriously difficult to identify visually, I thought I would mention the possibility that the flycatcher at Mundy might have been a Least Flycatcher. Least also gives a "whit" call, and there have been multiple reports of Least in our area in the past few days. Willow and Alder Flycatcher are two of our latest arrivals in the area--when I tracked spring arrival dates from 2000 to 2009, I calculated the average Basin arrival dates for these two species as May 17 and May 16, respectively. (Least Flycatcher's average arrival date for 2000-2009 was April 29.) Here are the latest eBird maps for Least and Willow for May 2014: Least: http://ebird.org/ebird/map/leafly?neg=true&env.minX=-115.45075808685442&env.minY=25.872982715847318&env.maxX=-59.20075808685442&env.maxY=44.80438120556643&zh=true&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=5&emo=5&yr=cur&byr=2014&eyr=2014 Willow: http://ebird.org/ebird/map/wilfly?neg=true&env.minX=-115.45075808685442&env.minY=25.872982715847318&env.maxX=-59.20075808685442&env.maxY=44.80438120556646&zh=true&gp=true&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=5&emo=5&yr=cur&byr=2014&eyr=2014 And here is a table of the average arrival dates that I calculated for 2000 to 2009: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AlopXQo1irTWdDQ4XzcyeVR6LV9sX3ZKMjVJMzdzSEE&output=html Best, Matt Medler Ithaca ________________________________ From: Meena Madhav Haribal <m...@cornell.edu> To: CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Sent: Friday, May 2, 2014 1:51 PM Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Willow Flycatcher and other migrants in Mundy Hi all, I took a late lunch walk today. There were a few migrants. First I saw and heard the House Wren, his bubbling song was exhilarating. Then I saw this flycatcher with olive green back and wing bars and clear eye-ring, I called it a Trail’s Flycatcher. But later on the way back it was giving continuous ‘whit’ calls and confirmed that it was a Willow Flycatcher. I also watched it chase a moth for some time. The third migrant was also first heard and then I knew where exactly to look for it among the newly emerging buds. It was a beautiful Yellow Warbler. Lastly, I heard a Gray Catbird call, but did not get visuals on it. So that was exciting! Dr. Meena Haribal Boyce Thompson Institute Ithaca NY 14850 Ph: 607-3011167 http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ http://haribal.org/ -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
