Hey Birdman Doug - this is cool!
on 1/11/09 7:32 am, edited 1/11/09 7:33 am
Rare 'dinky' bird migrates to US for first time
Associated Press Writer
This photo released by Bruce Sherman of Rockport, Texas, shows a Pine Flycatcher photographed at the Choke Canyon State Park, Texas, Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Bruce Sherman)
"It's not a thrilling bird visually. It's thrilling because it's a first U.S. record," said Wes Biggs, who flew to Choke Canyon State Park from Orlando, Fla., to catch a glimpse.
The bird, which appears to be alone, was first spotted last month and as recently as Friday. The sightings have been confirmed by photographs and recordings of its chirping. The bird, with a solitary nature, usually stays at high elevations but made its winter home in the low Texas scrubland about 200 miles north of its usual habitat.
For the bird to be added to the official checklists of American birders, it will first have to be accepted by the Texas Bird Records Committee, then the American Birding Association. But expert birders are convinced the bird drawing the masses is a pine flycatcher.
"It's a very unexpected discovery, but this is a bird we don't much know about," said Mark Lockwood, a state parks conservation biologist and secretary of the Texas Bird Records Committee.
The committee will review the photos, written descriptions and recordings, but "there is no dispute it's a pine flycatcher," Lockwood said.
Other types of flycatchers have been seen in South Texas, but the pine flycatcher apparently traveled hundreds of miles to get to the hackberry and mesquite trees near a large reservoir.
The bird seems "very much out of whack," said John Arvin, research coordinator at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. "It moved over a lot of hostile-looking territory to get there. Why that happened is anybody's guess."
In the last week, word of the pine flycatcher has been spreading through birder Web sites and message boards.
Steve Matherly, from Houston, showed up in camouflage Thursday night after driving 3 1/2 hours for a glimpse early Friday.
"The dollars (spent to get here) per gram of bird is kind of amazing," he chuckled, as he looked around at dozens of other birders scanning the brush and chatting in hushed tones.
He belongs to a group that puts out e-mail alerts when a rare bird is sighted and came down as soon as he could.
"You never know. I've had my occasions where I've gotten there a day late," said Matherly, who works at a gas pipeline company. "I don't know what I'll see today, but it'll be better than a cubicle."
Dotty Robbins, from Gainesville, Fla., traveled to South Texas to see the pine flycatcher this week even though she came up empty on two previous trips to the area for rare bird sightings.
"It's a little bit of a treasure hunt," she said.
Robbins concedes the pine flycatcher is "dinky," that its distinguishing features come down to a few feathers combined with a particular call.
"He's not spectacular," she said. But "it's unique."
LOL...Flycatchers are "dinky"...and not spectacular...but they are unique...LOL.
This article reminds me of the below "Bird of the Week" I sent out a few weeks ago.
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OK…I know it’s been a while since I’ve sent out a “Bird of the Week". (Actually about 3 months. That’s the longest time span without a BOTW in the last 4 years.) A few of you know I’ve had some personal issues that have come up in my life. (Primarily the serious illness of a very close family member.) But through it all…I’ve actually continued to birdwatch. I found out some years ago that birdwatching can be as “therapeutic" as any hobby can possibly be and is somewhat relaxing during times of stress and strain, angst and anger. In its proper context, birdwatching can be good, both for the mind and body. So…while I haven’t been sending out my BOTWs…I have been birdwatching. (Albeit, with a concentration on “listening" and not “listing". Albeit, with a concentration on “ornitheology" and not “ornithology".) I always thought that I’d get my BOTWs cranked back up during the upcoming fall migration period. Fall birding excites me. Fall is a wonderful time to bird. In just a few short weeks there will be more birds in our area than at any other time of the year. During the fall it isn’t so uncommon to find yourself in the middle of what I call a “Birding Storm". During these storms it’s quite possible to see 30-40 different species of birds within 30-40 minutes of birding. But…that’s not what finally motivated me to get these BOTW’s cranked back up. Strangely enough, it wasn’t the preponderance of birds that causes me to send out a BOTW, but quite the opposite. A week or so ago, I went out to Fort Harrison State park, one of my favorite birding spots here in Central Indiana. It’s a logical place for me to bird because of its close proximity to my house and it has decent birding. What I found most interesting about my excursion there that day was the “lack of birds". (OK..maybe it wasn’t a “lack of birds"…but it’s probably more correct to say a “lack of noticeable bird activity.") Once I started birding I thought I was in some kind of birding twilight zone or something. I birded for 15-20 minutes without seeing or even hearing one bird. (Ok…as far as birding was concerned, I had two things working against me. First, it was the dog days of summer and second, it was the middle of the day…so I didn’t expect much bird activity, but for 15-20 minutes to pass was a bit much in my mind.) Finally…I was able to catch sight of some movement in a tree. No sound…just movement. A wing flutter had given away a bird’s silent perch. (There were no doubt hundreds of birds nearby, checking me out as I walked below them, they just didn’t move to give me notice.) I got the bird in view in my binoculars. And the bird I saw? It was a…uggghhhhh…“small bird." Its color was…uggghhhhh…“drab"…uggghhhhh…“neutral beige-ish"…uggghhhhh…“taupe-ish"… uggghhhhh….“green-ish or maybe gray-ish". And it had…uggghhhhh…a white eye-ring and two white wing bars. The best description of the bird would be…uggghhhhh… “A small and nondescript bird." Actually I was able to put this bird in its proper category after a quick look. It was a “flycatcher". However, those of you who “bird", (Yes, I am one of those determined to have “bird" recognized as a verb), are probably aware that flycatchers can be a bane of birdwatching. They can be notoriously hard to identify. Since flycatchers can look so much alike, it is best to ID them by range, habitat, and voice. Range? Well…with it being so close to fall migration I didn’t feel completely comfortable ID’ing the bird by range. Habitat? Well…because the habitat I was in would be considered “transitional habitat" or “edge habitat" I wasn’t completely comfortable ID’ing the bird by habitat. Voice? Well…that bird never made a sound! I found this bird to be quite perplexing. What was I to do with this bird that seemed to be perfectly content with its life as it sit there perched waiting on its next meal to fly by? What was I to do with this bird that I couldn’t put a label on? While observing the bird, I finally came to the conclusion that I’d just sit there and enjoy the bird while it allowed me to. Yes, I’d simply relax and enjoy the bird and thus I’d feel a whole lot better about the bird and myself for that matter. I’ve heard it said that, “A contented man is the one who enjoys the scenery along the detours." I find that to be quite true.
ACADIAN FLYCATCHER (Empidonax Flycatcher)
ALDER FLYCATCHER (Empidonax Flycatcher)
LEAST FLYCATCHER (Empidonax Flycatcher)
WILLOW FLYCATCHER (Empidonax Flycatcher)
YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (Empidonax Flycatcher)
