Post by expiallyd on Jul 17, 2019 22:28:10 GMT -8
It’s been at least 5 minutes since the last post about empid flycatchers, so here I go again with an ID question. Was at Hayward Lake and spent at least half an hour craning my neck looking up into fir and adjacent deciduous trees along the trail between the lake and the forested slope (at the start of the railway trail) trying to catch glimpses of at least 3, possibly as many as 5 flycatchers. Seemed to be a family group with at least 1 begging youngster. The adults seemed small and fairly dark with light wingbars, some yellow on the belly, and a very distinct complete bright white eyering that was noticeable even when the birds were in the shade and other details were not visible. Round eyering, not noticeably teardrop shaped like Pacific slopes. The top of the head appeared slightly darker than the rest of the head but that may have been a trick of the light. Birds were very active, hopping up from the branches to catch bugs and occasionally hovering under leaf clusters in the same way that kinglets do, and sticking around in the same fir tree for quite a while. They did not at any time sit on an open perch and fly out of the trees to catch insects in the open. I am thinking that these are least flycatchers. Did not hear the che-bek sound that I associate with leasts; but they were almost constantly making a sharp wheet sound and sometimes there seemed to be some skirmish accompanied by rapid wheets and chattery noises. Eventually they moved on and so did I. I did not get many good looks at the birds and I have no pictures except a poor one of this bird which I take to be a juvenile. Grey overall and grey vest with a yellow undershirt. I don’t want to report these as leasts if anyone can tell me that this bird is most likely NOT a least. Thoughts, anyone?