Whatbird.com

No groans please!  I have been working hard on this ID. My actual question  is : I'm pretty sure this bird is  of the flycatcher group, but NONE of my area checklists(4) list any flycatchers!! Should I go ahead and upload it as a (my best guess) Western Wood Pewee to ebird?

He's about 6-7" length - dark brown head,back, lighter gray neck, belly, underparts - dark,long, thin bill, large head  - no eyering, no wingbars that I can see - very short tail with notch, dark brown.

He sits on a lower branch, flies out to dry meadow , catches insects in midair or lands in the grass, thens returns to same branch. No wagging of tail and the song/call is  "Pee-et,pee-et,pee-et   ___    ___   ___"

I am  in Lake county, California which is in his range and also Hammond's flycatcher's range.

I recommend flycatcher ID  101  to all beginning birders to test their mettle- LOL! 

All opinions, jackslaps and help are greatly appreciated  Thank you, Marcialyn

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A library doesn't need any windows- a library IS a window.

Could it possibly be an Eastern Kingbird? Google their images.

i think  WotsiFish is most likely right... pee-wees have a faint eye-ring, and  nice wing bars... so dont post on ebird yet....look for a white stripe on the end of the tail feathers to confirm Kingbird, but the song doesnt sound right ....?good luck

The large head and brown tail make me think of an ash-throated flycatcher; although the tail is fairly long compared to the bird, not short as you observed. The ash-throated's voice is relatively easy to pick up on once you learn it; try a sound file from this site and others to get familiar with it and see if they match.

Dan Kopp

Sacramento

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Dan Kopp
Sacramento

Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings; I live for my dream and a pocketful of gold...

  Thankyou for  the responses-and I explored both possibles-First one,  the  kingbird,  has a  too -white breast, I had already rejected the black phoebe for the same reason. Second  one, ash-thr. flycatcher's song is not what I'm hearing- (I listened to both birds' audio at Cornell's site

 and viewed Google images) nor is there any yellowish  coloring on belly/undertail coverts.

   Well, today I  strutted out there with my new prescription  eyeglasses thinking I'm gonna nail this one down easy cause now I can see (LOL).

And yes indeed I saw one faint , narrow wingbar  of a yellowish shade  and no eyering for certain. I am also pretty sure there are several species out here

as there was also a gray bird with blue wings/tail foraging in the poison oak bushes next to the meadow. There were  at least 3 feeding and looked much like the  "gray adult"  female mountain bluebird.  Do thrushes have foraging behavior similiar to the T. flycatchers?  I'm not trying to be difficult or even confusing and since I love  going to the vernal pond, I'll jump at any excuse.

  Pumakopp  had a very good point in another post about  different people's perception of color, song, etc.

And lastly, here are all the songs/calls  I heard today over the din of the  Caltrans roadwork(Grrrr):

1. soft  "pew " single note

2. Twills/chattering,complicated,thin, hi-pitched, busy-sounding

3. "peep.peep.peep.,pipipipipipiiip,  also peeppeeep, wheet! 

Marcialyn 

 

 

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A library doesn't need any windows- a library IS a window.