Hey everyone,
Today after school I walked around the house (Albemarle Co) finding a
Swainson's Thrush and an Ovenbird. Then I found a silent Empie (Fun) sitting in
a clump of vines over the creek. My immediate thoughts of the bird was a
Traill's but my mind wondered to a Yellow-bellied when he occasionally flicked
his tail and then to an Acadian. I have ruled out Least by size and thicker
tail on this bird. I am now on Acadian again. Here is a link to an album I made
for this bird.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115043594@N05/sets/72157651949557779/ Please ;
don't be shy to share opinions. Here is what I noted when watching this bird.
First off it seemed un interested in any of my tapes so no help there. Alright
the medium sized bird with an olive back and wings, yellowish wing bars, faint
yellowish eyering, knobbed tip of tail which makes me lean away from Traill's
but isn't decisive, orange lower mandible, yellowish throat not very visible in
this picture, yellow lower belly, bobbing of tail occasionally, and an olivish
upper belly. If it were a Yellow-bellied it would be a paler bird but that
isn't unusual as there are extremely bright and dull Yellow-bellied. What I am
leaning towards now is an Acadian but usually they seem to have a lime wash
over the entire belly but no darker upper belly coloration which this bird has,
also usually Acadians are higher up in trees and not low level forager. A
Traill's is similar but the defined wingbars and a knobbed tip of tail lead me
away from them.
Good Birding,
Andrew Rapp