Yellow and Gray Bird at Feeder - Northern California (1 Viewer)

Sorry, no pictures in this one but I hope someone can still help me.

Today when I was outside working on some snake enclosures under the tree where I have some feeders filled with seed, I noticed a bird I had never seen at the feeders before. The strange thing (and what's throwing me off on the identification), is that it looked like a flycatcher. I heard it fly up to the feeder, so I looked up at it and at that moment it saw me and flew off while uttering a harsh wret-wret-wret-wret.

Here is my description of the bird, though I only saw it for a couple seconds... The body size was about that of a Purple Finch (abundant around here), but the bird I saw had a longer tail, giving an overall length of about seven or eight inches. It had yellow underparts and, from what I briefly saw, relatively plain, slate-gray upperparts. I believe the head was gray as well, and it was large for the size of the bird (larger than that of a Purple Finch). The bill was small and gray. After the bird saw me, but before it flew away, it raised a fluffy crest that I thought was characteristically flycatcher-like.

Does anyone know what this could be? I'm thinking some sort of vagrant or something because I looked through all my local bird guides and found nothing that matched. I was considering a female Lesser Goldfinch, but that species is common around here as well and this did not look like any Lesser Goldfinch I've seen. Basically, everything I remember about the bird screamed "flycatcher", but I've never heard of any species from this group visiting seed feeders, nor do any of the species that look like the bird I saw live around here at this time of year.

Any ideas? Thanks for any advice.

An eight inch flycatcher with a yellow belly, grey back and a crest sounds like one of the Myiarchus flycatchers. I only know the great crested in the east, but range maps put ash-throated as most probable in northern california, and it also has a relatively small bill. I can't comment on their alarm call.

Scott

cavan wood said:

An eight inch flycatcher with a yellow belly, grey back and a crest sounds like one of the Myiarchus flycatchers. I only know the great crested in the east, but range maps put ash-throated as most probable in northern california, and it also has a relatively small bill. I can't comment on their alarm call.

Scott

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At a feeder though? :brains: :h?:

AlexC said:

At a feeder though? :brains: :h?:

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Yes, that bothered me too, but then again it was only there for a second or two so perhaps it was just intending to use it as a perch.
Scott

Natalie, could you maybe describe the bill? Thin and kind of longish or thick and kind of shortish?

The bill was about medium-length and relatively slender. The Ash-Throated Flycatcher seems very similar to the bird I saw (though maybe with less rufous coloring on the tail), but I'm still puzzed about what such a bird might be doing at the feeder. Thanks everyone for the help so far.

maybe a western kingbird?

Fits the gray and yellow description, still don't know what it would be doing on your feeder, though.

djleahy said:

Fits the gray and yellow description, still don't know what it would be doing on your feeder, though.

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Or a Cassin's Kingbird. Either of these entered my mind.

Natalie: I am located in Kern Co., Lake Isabella, So. Sierra Mts. I have had Ash Throated flycatchers come to my feeders. As it turns out, it was very brief and only exploratory. What it really wanted was the water in the bird bath. This happend on a few occasions, and in each the birds only explored, nothing more. It is possible to have them turn up at feeders.