I was out of town for the past 4 days ( near the Salton Sea one day, where 
the best bird was a vagrant eastern warbler...an American redstart in a flock of 
Abert's towhees and verdins! Perhaps a new altitudinal record: 233 feet below 
sea level!). I was walking my tripod dog this p.m., resigned that Bill 
Ellis's Monday, December 5 record of the flycatcher would be the last sighting. At 
the berry bush was only a hermit thrush. Then a cooper's hawk flew over, 
suggesting a fate for our friend. As I walked south past the stone house, I noticed 
some movement on the hillside uphill and to the south of the house. The 
flycatcher lives! This time the bird acted as it did on its first appearance 16 days 
before. It was first observed sitting quietly about 4 feet off the ground. As 
I focused my binocs on the bird, I could see that it was eating an orange 
berry, allowing part of it (the seeds?) to drop out of its mouth to the ground. 
The bird sat for several minutes, then flew down to the ground, then back up, 
pumping its tail (not flicking it) and flitting the wings. Then another drop to 
the ground, where it stayed for almost one minute. What could explain the 
change in habits from the quick in and out of the berry vine of the past week? 
Maybe the lack of people staring at it? Or maybe this is the activity of late in 
the day?

At any rate, I'll be checking every day. It will be sad when the day comes 
when the flycatcher is not seen again. 

Today's observation was at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 8, 2005, 2 weeks 
and 2 days since its discovery.

Hank Kaestner
Monkton, Maryland