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The bane of all Flycatchers.. (1 Viewer)

nikovich

Well-known member
Taken at the same campground in Saskatchewan, Canada last August.
My immediate thought was a Least , but I'm not 100 % as alot of these Empids look alike to me.

thanks for any help !

Nick
 

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I've never seen a Least but just checked up in Sibley. The broad complete eye-ring, short primary projection and bill and the contrasting tertials all look good for Least.
 
Well I guess you can ID these as Least almost on location alone, however I do note that there is a local breeding Dusky Flycatcher population in SW Saskatchewan. If the pics are from that locality then it would be impossible to rule Dusky out from your pics. Song continues to be the best way of seperating these birds i'm afraid.

Luke
 
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streatham said:
Well I guess you can ID these as Least almost on location alone, however I do note that there is a local breeding Dusky Flycatcher population in SW Saskatchewan. If the pics are from that locality then it would be impossible to rule Dusky out from your pics. Song continues to be the best way of seperating these birds i'm afraid.

Luke

I think that short tail, stubby little primaries, and short beak, all add up to least, even if there are dusky's nearby. I really don't know dusky very well, but according to the feild guide dusky should be a bit grayer in late summer.

Scott
 
I've got a pretty good Least lean, but don't see this as being a photo to be getting definitive from.

How are we ruling out Yellow-bellied? Personally, I find the primary projection uncompelling, almost intermediate between the two. Eye ring is not quite as bold as I like on the Least's locally. The belly not only looks yellowish, but the sides and flank dark, and for a long way down. I like the contrast between throat and breast for Least, but not the lack of contrast between malar and throat.

I'm not saying it is a Yellow-bellied, particularly with the color of the wing-bars on this juvenile, but if there is just a smidge of a color cast problem (and the dullness of the green in the leaves have me wondering about a minor blue cast), that could change things. So a Least lean, but I sure can't get definitive on this particular Empidonax from this one photo.
 
Thayeri said:
I've got a pretty good Least lean, but don't see this as being a photo to be getting definitive from.

How are we ruling out Yellow-bellied? Personally, I find the primary projection uncompelling, almost intermediate between the two. Eye ring is not quite as bold as I like on the Least's locally. The belly not only looks yellowish, but the sides and flank dark, and for a long way down. I like the contrast between throat and breast for Least, but not the lack of contrast between malar and throat.

I'm not saying it is a Yellow-bellied, particularly with the color of the wing-bars on this juvenile, but if there is just a smidge of a color cast problem (and the dullness of the green in the leaves have me wondering about a minor blue cast), that could change things. So a Least lean, but I sure can't get definitive on this particular Empidonax from this one photo.

Some keen observations, particularly the dark flanks, and a good reminder not to get too confindent on a single photo. That said, I was wondering if the darker front half of the lower mandible wouldn't rule out yellow-bellied. Also, least can also have yellowish tinges on the belly, yes?

Scott
 
I had looked at interpreting the bill, and decided to pass. You can tell by the white outlining that there has been some post-processing done on the image in the interest of making it look nice, and given how few pixels are in the bill anyway, I didn't feel comfortable with going too far in interpreting gradations within a small processed bill. But thanks for motivating me to import the photo into Paint Shop Pro, and take a close up look, because I also took a better look at the body.

Least can certainly have a yellow tone to the belly, so some yellow down there is not a disqualifier. When I use a "color dropper" in looking at the individual pixels in the belly, I see a yellow coloration that is even stronger than I expected. A fairly strong and darkish yellow coloration to the belly next to a strongly dark flank coloration as well as a darkish breast is not at all a combination that you want to see for Least.

If we knew those were accurate -- that would disqualify Least, in my opinion. But given the backlit lighting, possible camera cast and dynamic range concerns, and post-processing issues, well..... who knows for sure? I think when we concentrate on the underside of the body there are enough issues to put the ID in doubt, but that is just my opinion, of course.
 
Nice photo:

These little fellows are difficult to distinguish and any definitive I.D. almost impossible without hearing the song. One issue is being confident that original descriptions are legitimate in the field guides and not based mostly on the repetition of the same fuzzy distinctions. I can tell some of the Western species apart by behavior and habitat but am never quite comfortable without puting the word 'probable' in there somewhere.

Although your bird is from SW Saskathewan, I recommend the book

'Field guide to Alberta Birds'...... as a bit more 'on the mark' than the larger general guides. This is especially true of birds from a Cypress Hills or Grasslands National Park in Sask.

There's huge areas in SE Alberta and bordering SW Sask that are largely 'unknowns' as to nesting, etc. Access into the area is limited once you get into the drier shortgrass prairies and the labyrinth of coulees and hoodoos. I've done some paleontological studies in some of the areas and we've spent a couple days hiking in off the gravel roads and come across some little oasis of cottonwoods that I'm sure is 25 kms from the nearest spot anyone has ever done even a cursory study of the bird life. Flycatchers reported in such areas are mostly speculative to species. There just hasn't been enough 'boots on the ground' for anyone to say much for certain.
 
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