Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 12:54:08 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Frank Powers Subject: Re: Willow vs. Alder Flycatcher MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 05/02/2002 12:18:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, joan@IWLA.ORG writes: << flycatcher ID can only make you crazy! >> Yup. I had that experience last Saturday at Whisp, in Garrett County. There were 5-6 of the little ##@*&&* things moving about high in the trees. They'd stop long enough to tantalize me, and sing a few more 'brreets,' or something like that, then move quickly to the next tree so I'd have to search for'em all over again. The wing bars and lack of perceptible eye-ring indicated Willows, as would the habitat itself (the only place I've seen -- or believe I've seen -- Alders is in or near boggy thickets). What's the habitat like where you've seen them? Have you had a chance to check those markings? That might be a help. One other thing that was striking was that they seemed to fling back their heads as they hit the 2nd syllable and pumped their tails a little bit in synchronization (but I could only find the tail-pumping mentioned, suggesting Willows; nothing about head-shaking). Head shape also seemed to indicate Willows, as they appeared more pointed and less rounded than Alders. If nothing else succeeds in suggesting one or the other, well...there's a 50-50 chance that they ARE Willows and you could call'em that and end the frustration. Without a DNA test, who's going to challenge you? I sure wouldn't. Good birding (of other species!), Frank Powers Glen Echo, MD mattfp@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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================