[obol] Beach bird mystery

[Shawneen Finnegan]

As Dennis mentioned, this bird appears to be too small to be an Ash- 
throated Flycatcher.  The tail pattern alone is incorrect for Ash- 
throated Flycatcher, as there is no rufous on the underside of these  
feathers.   Ash-throated show a lot of rufous on the underside of the  
tail, as do the other North American Myiarchus flycatchers, with  the  
exception of Dusky-capped.  I am not suggesting it is a Dusky-capped,  
because if the crown color, if it is indeed naturally black and not  
stained, would be too dark for a Dusky-capped, at least the North  
American subspecies.  Dusky-capped Flys have big bills but the bill  
on this bird looks too big, though it may be the angle and the fact  
that it is falling apart.

As for the belly being black AND yellow, it looks like the belly and  
flank feathers are black at the base and yellow at the tips.  That  
would mean the underparts would have looked all yellow when it was  
alive.

My Identification Guide to North American Birds by Peter Pyle is  
still packed somewhere in box so I can't reference it at the moment  
to compare measurements.

Personally, I would recommend that this bird be salvaged and sent to  
a museum for identification.

Shawneen Finnegan
Portland, Oregon
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