Alder Flycatcher at Cheam Lake

[Gord]

This morning I carefully observed and noted a flycatcher at Cheam Lake right at the parking lot. I was early for the school class that was coming, so I listened and watched this bird for over a half-hour. Here are the details of how I came to the conclusion that I was satisfied this was an alder flycatcher.

This bird hung out near the parking lot in the willows and cottonwoods between the picnic area and the lake. It did not sing as frequently as the nearby willows did. It also wandered about from one end of the picnic area to the other, going into two willow flycatcher's territories. Interestingly enough, there were no battles or interest shown by the willow flycatchers nearby. Mind you, it never stayed long in these two locations that I earlier noted to be willow flycatcher territories where males are frequently heard calling. It ended up going east along the picnic area and I had to leave it. I should mention I have not heard this bird before this summer. I would be fairly confident to say it's a new arrival.

Down to the details necessary for an ID.
His song was a good fuzzy "ree-BA!". It did not vary from this at all the entire time, nor did it give any "reeep!" sounds. Near the end of my observation, and this confirmed everything to me, it made its call note; a "pek!", not the "whit" the willow flycatcher makes. When I listened to recordings of the two species, the alder song and call were very identical, especially the call note.

I have no experience with alder flycatchers, but am very familair with willow flycatchers. I used field guide for reference and the before mentioned recordings. I, myself, am quite comfortable with this identification! Anyone else to gets a chance to see(hear) it, Id be most interested in hearing their opinions as well.

[Gord]

It was there again today. It's song was the same as yesterday, but I didnt get to hear a call note. I looked at the bird itself more closely, not that it does anything for identification purposes, but I looked anyway. Conclusion; it looked like a flycatcher.
I played a tape from the truck, and this bird took no visible notice of either alder or willow flycatcher. I did, however, manage to complicate things by attracting a willow flycatcher from each near by territory when the willow flycatcher song was played. A three-way battle ensued acompanied by a bunch of wierd fighting calls and sounds. No help there, so I quit that endeavour. I did, later, listen to the tape quietly while the bird in question sang. They are darn close. Twice or so, the song almost sounded stronger on the first note, but I think Im just listening too hard and starting to second guess myself. Im still going to go with my gut on this one.

I can see why alder and willow were lumped together in the species Traill's flycatcher! Interestingly enough, should I be up in the north east of the Province, I would have said this bird was an alder flycatcher and would have gone to bed happy and slept very well.

[Gord]

An update.

This morning it sang just a couple times. I looked at it with the scope and compared to a near by willow (that must have been an amusing sight me trying to go back and forth with the scope). Kenn Kauffman's book that goes into details on these little terrors says that while visual identification is impossible, there does seem to be a trend in plumage between the species, but they overlap greatly. Alders are most likely to have an eye ring, but also just as likely to not have one or one that's very faint. Willows, on the other hand, can have a slight eye ring but not usually a strong one. This bird did not appear to have any kind of eye ring. Colouration can be a clue with a more dark back and a head and face that is slightly darker and contrasts with the back for an alder. I would say that this bird is a bit darker and could have the before mentioned contrast with the head and back. Wing bars on an alder will tend to contrast a bit more than a willow's. I would say this bird'd wing bars did contrast but that is debatable when looking at the near by willow.
Really nothing conclusive in a study of the bird's appearance.

Later in the day after lunch, there was what I assumed to be the alder in the same location, but it did not sing or call once even though the willows were going strong. One willow in particular had the "riipp!" sound that many confuse with alders like the bird in Grant Narrows that has shown up the last three years. I had an opportunity to look at this bird the first year it showed up. Horray for notes. Maybe I have a bit more experience than I thought. This bird, to my ear, did not do the two syllable "re-BAH" but just the "Ripp!" sound. I left this bird skeptical but optimistic. Now that Ive seen this bird, I'd say that the bird at Grant Narrows is a messed up willow. Back to the Cheam Lake willow. Right after doing "rippp!" it would do "FITZ-bew!" very close behind. It seemed to space the "FITZ-bew's!" much further apart which I found interesting for some reason.

Perhaps the Chilliwack Field Naturalist's picnic tomorrow will get some more opinions on this guy.

Sorry for the ramble!