Bob and the list,
I neglected to mention that Willow Flycatcher breeds on Appalachian Trail
Road (sorry) - I would not be surprised if these birds were local, but then
again I cannot know. We came across a calling Willow at Dulles Wetlands 2
weeks ago prior to the Banshee-Reeks field trip. All the calls have been
abrupt "whit"s that were often repeated at intervals of 3-5 seconds. I
admit I tried to turn them into Least Flycatchers, but when glassed, the
small body and big head just wasn't there.
So far this August, about half of the Least Flycatchers have vocalized,
almost always a rapid che-bek. One Yellow-belliled Flycatcher vocalized
with the whistled chu-wee. The only Acadian I have spotted has said
nothing.
As an aside, Partners in Flight in the recent North American Landbird
Conservation Plan, Rich et al, (Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca) 2004 has
population estimates for the majority of local land birds we may encounter.
The numbers for the eastern empids are:
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 6.2M (M=million)
Acadian Flycatcher 4.7M
Alder Flycatcher 49M
Willow Flycatcher 3.3M
Least Flycatcher 14M
Although there are several ways one can interpret these estimates, the one
thing that comes across to me is that the empid you view in Sept or even Oct
has a high probability of being an Alder and Least is next statistically.
So, learning the call notes of these birds can be a big plus in making an ID
- assuming the little fellow says anything at all!
Kurt
-----Original Message-----
From: va-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:va-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Icepeep@xxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 9:38 PM
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-bird] Re: Epilogue: RE: Birds Seen at the Blue Ridge Center
(Loudoun Co),...
Hello List,
Sorry about the cryptic message from before. It is hard to work a computer
and watch professional bull riding. It was meant to say:
two Willow Flycatchers
