[TN-Bird] calls of empidonax flycatchers

From: Stephen Stedman <sstedman@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2003 09:48:25 -0500
A recent message on BirdKY jostled some old memories
of bird calls that can be confused with one another.  I refer
to the whit (or wit) call that is produced by three
western empids (Dusky, Gray, and Buff-breasted) and
two eastern empids (Least and Willow).  Lowther (1999;
BNA 446), in treating the vocalizations of Alder Flycatcher,
digresses to note that the whit call of Willow Flycatcher "is
similar to calls of several other Empidonax  flycatchers"
[Least, Dusky, Gray, or Buff-breasted], a fact that is
repeated by numerous others who deal with empid calls.
Sedgwick (2000; BNA 533), while discussing the vocalizations
of Willow Flycatcher, suggests that the whit call of Willow
is "thick and dry, but softer than the more emphatic whit of
Least Flycatcher," indicating that sufficient field experience
may allow some field observers, who surely surpass my
level of skill, to separate these species by extremely subtle
differences in that call.
It has been my past experience in reviewing written
documentation of empid records for use in the Central
Southern Region winter reports in American
Birds/Nat. Audubon Soc. Field Notes/North
American Birds (1991-2000), as well as empid records
submitted on CBCs in Alabama, Mississippi, and
Tennessee (1998-2002), that some observers are under
the impression that the whit/wit call is definitive evidence for
Least Flycatcher.  I thought I would call attention to the
fact that several other empids use this call and that due
prudence is called for by those who attempt to identify
empids based on this call note alone.  If this call is used
in conjunction with morphological characters that
separate the various empids, it may well be of great
value as an aid to field i.d. of calling (not singing) empids,
but relying on it alone as a way to i.d. empids is a risky
proposition.

I'd be grateful for other thoughts on this i.d. issue from
those who have had much experience with the whit/wit
call of both Least and Willow flycatchers.

Steve Stedman
Cookeville, TN



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[TN-Bird] calls of empidonax flycatchers

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