Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 14:24:20 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Stasz Subject: Re: Alder Fly ID MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks! I have to agree with Bob Ringler. I have had silent, migrant Alder & Willow flycatchers in the hand and have always sent them into the Bird Banding Laboratory as Traill's. I have also seen a fair number of calling Alder and Willow flycatchers. While there are suggestions of plumage differences [back color, cap, and eye-ring], I have decided to take the conservative approach and list all non-calling birds as Traill's, with a note that lists my best guess when possible. Age, degree of feather wear, and lighting all affect the appearance. To add to Bob's note.... after you have decided the bird is not a Wood-Pewee and is an Empidonax species, before you call it anything, make sure you rule out ALL the other Empidonax, not just the "expected" Eastern species. Good Birding! Jim Jim Stasz North Beach MD jlstasz@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================