Massachusetts Coast (1 Viewer)

CoffeeBird · Jul 12, 2014

Seen in Plum Island / Parker River NWR, this morning:

Life bird or garbage bird?

I would like this to be a Marsh Wren, but I have a feeling it's either a female red-winged blackbird or even a juvie starling.

Hard to make the call, though, what with wishful thinking. Somehow plumage looks too varied for a juvie starling though.

Any help would be appreciated!

Southern Frogmouth · Jul 12, 2014

It's not a juvenile Starling anyway

Roy

Nutcracker · Jul 12, 2014

Empidonax flycatcher of some sort. I'll leave which to the US experts :t:

birdher · Jul 12, 2014

It's a flycatcher, probably a willow

tom baxter · Jul 13, 2014

I was also thinking willow flycatcher which is probably much more likely than alder, but I don't think you can rule out alder without hearing its voice.

CoffeeBird · Jul 13, 2014

A-ha. No, it was the willow flycatcher then. There were many birds calling out there, and while I was paying attention to the rattle of the marsh wren, I didn't notice that distinctive wolf-whistle-like call of the alder.

Thanks!

Po'ouli · Jul 14, 2014

Why not Eastern Wood-Pewee?

Peter C. · Jul 14, 2014

CoffeeBird said:
A-ha. No, it was the willow flycatcher then. There were many birds calling out there, and while I was paying attention to the rattle of the marsh wren, I didn't notice that distinctive wolf-whistle-like call of the alder.

Thanks!

Why not just an Alder that happened not to be singing at the time?

RJP · Jul 14, 2014

Po'ouli said:
Why not Eastern Wood-Pewee?

If I'm judging the primaries correctly in this very foreshortened view, then they aren't long enough for a Pewee.

Po'ouli · Jul 15, 2014

RJP said:
If I'm judging the primaries correctly in this very foreshortened view, then they aren't long enough for a Pewee.

I don't think we can really evaluate the primary projection from this angle, which is the point I was trying to make. Sometimes we just have to say a bird can't be identified from the available image.

CoffeeBird · Jul 15, 2014

Peter C. said:
Why not just an Alder that happened not to be singing at the time?

(1) The Alder's wolf-whistle // "FREE BEER, FREE BEER" is the one empid mnemonic that really sticks in my head, and I didn't hear it;

(2) There were many birders out there on Plum Island that day, for various reasons (Avocets, Sandwich Tern, Royals). On the eBird listings that came up later for that date, two checklists had a Willow, but nobody mentioned an Alder.

er, not the strongest argument, there

And, though Sibley's and just about everywhere else advises to primarily distinguish by voice, the Willow has a very slightly more squarish / crested head. I had that squarish impression from other pics; I'll post when I get out of the office.

Peter C. · Jul 16, 2014

CoffeeBird said:
(1) The Alder's wolf-whistle // "FREE BEER, FREE BEER" is the one empid mnemonic that really sticks in my head, and I didn't hear it.

Sure, I know the song well.

What I'm trying to say is that the absence of a song is not a field mark for anything. Hearing an Alder can be said to prove that Alder is present, but not hearing an Alder doesn't say anything about the id of this bird; you simply don't have any sound information to go on, that's all. And in the case of the Willow/Alder ID question, that is, I would argue, an insurmountable problem. (Many others would counter me on that, though.)

Peter

ovenbird43 · Jul 16, 2014

Peter C. said:
Sure, I know the song well.

What I'm trying to say is that the absence of a song is not a field mark for anything. Hearing an Alder can be said to prove that Alder is present, but not hearing an Alder doesn't say anything about the id of this bird; you simply don't have any sound information to go on, that's all. And in the case of the Willow/Alder ID question, that is, I would argue, an insurmountable problem. (Many others would counter me on that, though.)

Peter

Agreed. Especially as many migratory breeders now have fledglings, many birds are not calling or singing as frequently as they were a month ago, and some individuals (especially failed breeders) are beginning to make post-breeding movements.

Willow and Alder flycatcher often cannot be separated even in the hand, therefore silent birds are best identified as "Traill's". Head shape is not a feature that can be used to separate the two - head shape can change quite a bit depending on the position of the crown feathers, such that moment-to-moment individual variation would overshadow any supposed difference between these two nearly identical species. Also beware that slight differences between the paintings of these species within a field guide are not necessarily indicative of usable ID features.

If habitat or location favors Willow (I don't know anything about this specific area), an accurate assessment would be "Traill's flycatcher, likely Willow".

CoffeeBird · Jul 16, 2014

You guys are being my conscience.

Yeah, negatives don't make a positive. The habitat was the edge of a marshland in the Parker River NWR / Plum Island, MA (the southernmost lookout tower, if that helps) -- suitable for either Willow or Alder. The ID's of other birders in the area, experienced or not, is neither here nor there.

And, having reviewed the other photos of this Empid, the squarish head indeed comes and goes, depending on which way he's turned or looked. So much for that field mark.

So, I have to file this under "Empid sp.".

Tiraya · Jul 16, 2014

That bill looks pretty big for Willow or Alder, I initially thought wood-pewee.

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