[obol] Beach bird mystery

[david tracy]

Interesting specimen.  I agree with Shawneen that the underparts and  
crown would probably not have looked so black on a living bird.

The lower mandible looks yellowish, and the description at:  http:// 
home.pacifier.com/~neawanna/temp/smith_flyc.html
suggests the upper wing was plain olive-brown without wing bars.  Has  
anyone thought about it being a _Contopus_ type flycatcher?

Dave



david tracy
davect at bendnet.com
Bend, OR


----Original Message----
Subject: Re: Beach bird mystery
From: Shawneen Finnegan <shawneenfinnegan AT gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 09:00:17 -0700
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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david tracy
davect at bendnet.com