Here's the latest!
Now let;'s get this all sorted out folks.
Don Broderick
Salisbury
----- Original Message -----
From: "srubybird" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 5:43 PM
Subject: view of Myriarchus/Tyrannus today
> Dear Don:
>
> After making four trips to the site of the Myriarchus, I and my wife
> found it after searching for a half hour in very good light this
> afternoon (Sunday Dec 24) and observed it between 3:15 and 3:30 when
> we left. It was "hawking" for bugs from a tree next to the house by
> the field. Saw it successfully get some large green caterpillar
> like food. The tree has a birdbath under it. We observed it with
> binoculars and with 20x spotting scope. I got through the scope
> both front and back views clearly for several minutes each while
> perched in the bare tree. Because it was busy feeding, the sightings
> were different views of the bird as it returned to the tree.
> Several times it went to the ground to get food and other times were
> catches in the air. Unfortunately my camera does not work with my
> scope so I didn't take any pictures.
>
> Description:
>
> Size similar to the mockingbird in the same area.
> Gray head with black thick beak
> small whitish area in the throat
> breast and belly all yellow, Upperbreast is smudgy, dirty yellow
> compared to the bright lemon yellow of the rest of breast and belly.
> show yellow flash under the wings. The yellow was quite glaring in
> the bright light when the bird perched facing us and was the visual
> cue that we first spotted as it moved around.
> back is brownish/olive color which contrasted with head
> wings and tail all the same dark chocolate color with some white
> edging marks in the wings and tail feathers.
> tail is weakly notched but shows no white feathers on outer edge nor
> any white at tip
>
> My reaction is the bird is a Couch's or Tropical Kingbird which I
> have seen (Couch's, that is) in south Texas. Whether Couch's or
> Tropical is based on song so I will lump them. It lacks the gray
> breast of the Western Kingbird and is MUCH too yellow to be a Ash
> Throated Flycatcher. I have seen both of these in the west (Western
> Kingbird many times in AZ and TX)
>
> Doug Ruby
>
>
>
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