Date: 8/28/12 6:22 pm
From: Tim Carney <timmyc83...>
Subject: [MDBirding] Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at Susquehanna Picnic Area 8/28/2012


Richard Edden and I found a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at Susquehanna State Park tonight. It was above the little bridge, just inside the woods from the picnic area. It was one of the first birds to respond to the screech-owl tape, and we saw it several times throughout the evening. It was much yellower than the Acadians in the area, and just struck me as different overall from other Empids I've seen recently. It cocked its tail almost every time it landed on a branch and seemed more prone to bounce around than Acadians.

Other nice birds in this area included a Blue-headed Vireo (listed as rare on eBird for this date/location), Blue-winged Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Canada Warbler, a couple of Magnolias and Redstarts, Worm-eating Warbler, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and a very distant Eastern Screech-Owl, heard from high up on the Ridge Trail.

I also saw a flycatcher high up that I didn't count. Probably a pewee, but it had a distinctive vest. I was hoping to confirm it as Olive-sided, but it seemed small, and was usually sallying out from the foliage of the trees rather than perched on a dead snag.

Tim Carney
Baltimore/Anne Arundel

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