Dateline: 21-22 May 2022
Continuing with the weekend update, heavy thunderstorms Saturday evening. (Had to evacuate the BirdingPI.com Dead Pond field station due to localized flooding, but everyone is fine.) Sunday, warm, humid, and partially cloudy in the early AM. Turned overcast with fog and light rain/drizzle by 10:30AM; temperature at Presque Isle State park dropped about 15 degrees F in the span of less than an hour.
While waiting to get today’s prints back from the Fotomat, time for a minor flycatcher mystery.
Originally thought the three shots below (plus one above) were Least Flycatcher. However, in further ponderance over a cool glass of sparkly Mountain Dew(R) Code Red(R) soft drink (cherry-burst flavor = yum), this bird seems awfully yellow-olive. Or at least slightly yellow-olive. More yellow-olive than a Least Flycatcher should be, at least. Could it be Yellow-bellied Flycatcher?
Both are small flycatchers with wing bars and eye rings. However, the head, neck, and eye ring of the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher have a definite yellow-olive cast, vs. gray/white of the Least Flycatcher.
Plus a slightly larger, perhaps orange-edged beak on the Yellow-bellied.
Let’s compare.
First up, from 22 May 2022, something that’s definitely not olive-yellow enough for a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.
Is it a Least Flycatcher? Note the white eye ring, gray head, and white throat.
Other possibility is an Eastern Wood-pewee. However, as seen in the shot of an Eastern Wood-pewee below (from September 2021 along the Pine Tree Trail), Eastern Wood-pewee have a more obvious dusky ‘vest.’
In any event, here’s another recent shot of what’s definitely a Least Flycatcher:
Note the white eye ring, white throat, and gray head.
Crop time! First, from the shot at the top above. Note the yellow-olive back transitioning to a same-color head. Throat appears similar, if somewhat lighter. Eye ring is distinct but tinged. (Tired of typing “yellow-olive…”) Beak appears slightly larger, with the bottom distinctly orange.
From the Least Flycatcher shot just above, note the white-ish throat, gray head, and white eye ring. Smaller beak.
Based on this in-depth scientific analysis, seems like it’s time to call it as a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher!
Whew, way more work than usual around here.
[Editor’s note: Fotomat no longer exists, so someone is obviously making a ‘funny.’]
This team member was not privy to all of the above photo descriptions due to being caught in the rain and not having a cool drink to drink!
Also, my Argus C3 film is still at the photo processing place at the Mall. Don’t know when I’ll get it back.
(perhaps the box I dropped it in was for trash?)