10 replies to this topic

[NatureLady]

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher? seen in mn

[psweet]

Hard to say with this lighting, but I'd say more likely Willow or Alder, since the wing extension and bill seem too long for Least. A Yellow-bellied should show yellow on the throat, blending into the green on the nape and auriculars. This guy seems to have gray there, contrasting with the auriculars.

[Kryptos18]

Primary projection and eyering are consistent for Least Flycatcher.

[wildfelco]

agree with

Kryptos18

[NatureLady]

Is it possible to count the primary feathers by their edgings to distinguish between Alder and Willow Flycatchers? Also thanks for the ID on this flycatcher

[psweet]

Basically, no. In this particular case, you can't see the primary edgings -- the white edges you see in the picture are on the tertials. In the hand, you can separate perhaps 75% of them (more in the west than in the east) based on a combination of wing and bill measurements, assuming that you can properly age the bird first, but even that is a subtle thing (on the order of a couple of millimeters here or there). Also, most of the wing formula measurements involve p10 -- and you can't see p10 on the folded wing, since it's shorter than p8 and p9.

[NatureLady]

Psweet ~ whats a good resource for this kind of information?

[psweet]

If you're willing to spend a little bit of money, the Identification Guide to North American Birds, by Peter Pyle. (Sometimes referred to as the bird-bander's bible.) It takes a little work to figure out how to read the thing, but there's more detail than you're ever likely to need.

[NatureLady]

ok thanks we'll look for that at the book store

[psweet]

I'd suggest you look on Amazon, unless you've got a really good bookstore. Otherwise, the store may be able to order them for you. (He published them in two volumes -- confusingly, passerines and near-passerines are in book 1, all of the rest in book 2.)

[NatureLady]

well we got a Barnes and Noble in town and thanks for the additional info!!