Fly catcher ID Saskatchewan Canada (1 Viewer)

[Morb]

I saw this bird this morning, the picture isn’t very good but it’s in focus. I’m not sure exactly what it is.

 

[KenM]

I saw this bird this morning, the picture isn’t very good but it’s in focus. I’m not sure exactly what it is.

I’m thinking immature Eastern Phoebe?

Cheers

 

[The Bird Nuts]

Not a phoebe. It's an Empidonax species with the white eyering and wingbars, and orange/yellow color on the beak.

 

[KenM]

Not a phoebe. It's an Empidonax species with the white eyering and wingbars, and orange/yellow color on the beak.

You’re probably right but...most of those features might be applied to perhaps immature EP?
Regarding eye-rings they can be variable and good lighting is certainly a help in that respect.
Because of copyright I can’t use the image, however if one trawls imm.EP pics. there is an image facing left to right (shown twice) that gives a fair imitation albeit not exact.
The subject bird looks very grey (almost certainly the lighting), which is at variance to most of the Empids that I’ve seen, which invariably have a good dose of olive to the upper-parts, which this bird doesn’t appear to show?
Cheers

 

[The Bird Nuts]

No phoebe will have that prominent of an eyering/spectacles. And if it were young, as you suggested, the wingbars would have been a cinnamon color. Head size compared to the body is too small, too.

 

[Morb]

Thanks guys. I ran the pic through the Merlin app and the only result was a Dusky Flycatcher but according to the range map probably not.

 

[THE_FERN]

Alder or least flycatcher on range I think. I don't think we can be sure which from this photo: difficult to see the primary projection for example. If asked to bet I'd probably go with alder; I don't think it has the dumpy look of least.

 

[birdmeister]

I'd tend towards Least with such a bold eye-ring and grayish overall plumage, but the bird's scruffy appearance makes it hard to be sure.

Definitely Empidonax, though.

 

[BirdInTheTardis]

Agree with Least, but hard to tell from a photo

 

[Brian J Small]

A helpful video on some Empid flycatchers has been posted by Bret Whitney.

You need to cut to 2 minutes in to avoid a load of intro and get down to the nitty gritty, but has some nice insights from the great man!

https://vimeo.com/424549505

Brian

 

[Morb]

thanks, a good vid. i need to watch it again when there are less distractions