Rick, et al.
Rick Sussman asked if the NY Tyrannus flycatcher
ID was ever resolved. The answer is ... well,
yes, and no ... the NY Records Committee accepted
it as a "Tyrannus flycatcher." The text from
their decision report
(http://www.nybirds.org/NYSARC/Reports/NYSARC2003.html) is pasted, below.
FYI, as an aside ... in Maryland, our MD/DCRC
procedures would preclude us from accepting this
bird as "Tyrannus, sp." since other members of
the Tyrannus genus are not reviewable species in
Maryland (i.e., Eastern and Western Kingbirds);
however, the committee could, theoretically and
if necessary, accept it as a species member of
some defined group, such as the "Tropical/Couch's Kingbird complex."
A good question!
Hope this helps ...
Phil
Tyrannus flycatcher
2003-60-A River Rd, Town of Leicester, Livingston, (Robert Spahn) 17-25 Nov.
Gary Chapin discovered this Tyrannus flycatcher
hawking insects from the fence running along
Chandler Road near Geneseo. The bird remained in
the area until 2 Dec and was viewed and/or
photographed by many people. Only one report was
received and this is extremely unfortunate
because the identification proved controversial
and ultimately very interesting. In his initial
internet posting, Chapin identified the bird as a
Western Kingbird (T. verticalis), citing the
yellow underparts and white outer feathers seen
when the bird landed. A week later, Willie D’Anna
saw and digiscoped the kingbird at this same
locality but after studying his photos, D’Anna
raised some questions about the identification.
In particular, the relatively heavy bill,
extensively yellow upper breast and green hints
on the mantle pointed away from Western Kingbird.
The arrangement of feathers in the tail was also
unusual and initially interpreted as active molt.
The vocalizations D’Anna heard corresponded to a
very loud sharp single-syllabled call and in an
internet posting, Matt Victoria stated that he
heard the bird give a distinct “WICK!” call
several times. This is consistent with Western or
perhaps Couch’s Kingbird (T. couchii) but seemed
to exclude Tropical Kingbird (T. melancholicus).
The photos were posted on Angus Wilson’s web site
(www.oceanwanderers.com) and discussed
extensively on ID-Frontiers. Whilst many expert
commentators felt the bird more closely resembled
a Couch’s or Tropical rather than Western, others
felt that these species were not quite right
either. A short way into the debate, Bruce
Anderson of Winter Park, Florida made the
insightful observation that this might in fact be
a hybrid between Western Kingbird and
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (T. forficatus), a
known hybrid combination (Tyler and Parkes 1992,
Regosin 1998). This idea gained favor, and Kevin
McGowan and Bob Spahn, both of whom studied the
bird in life, developed a robust argument in
support of a somewhat different hybrid
hypothesis. These authors concluded that the most
likely parentage was in fact a hybrid between
Couch’s Kingbird and Scissor-tailed
Flycatcher—potentially the first example of this
combination (McGowan and Spahn 2004). Their
thoughtful and informative analysis of the
plumage and structural details is highly
recommended. The breeding range of the two
species overlaps narrowly in southern Texas and
northern Mexico and the two species are known to
form mixed flocks at times. An important lesson
from this fascinating bird is that identification
of scarce or rare species needs to be made with
great care. Not only is it important to use a
suite of positive characters but also to heed aspects that don’t quite fit.
>In a message dated 12/29/2006 8:24:44 PM Eastern
>Standard Time, Phil Davis writes:
>Here's a problematic tryannus from New York in 2003, probably NOT a
>Tropical ...
>
> http://www.oceanwanderers.com/NYTyrannus.html
At 08:45 12/30/2006, Rick Sussman wrote:
Phil and all,
Hopefully "our" bird won't cause this many
problems. The discussions sent in to Angus after
the photos were both enlightening and
unenlightening! Be glad you weren't part of the
NY records committee. Was this bird ID ever resolved?
===================================================
Phil Davis, Secretary
MD/DC Records Committee
2549 Vale Court
Davidsonville, Maryland 21035 USA
301-261-0184
mailto:[log in to unmask]
MD/DCRC Web site: http://www.MDBirds.org/mddcrc/rcindex.html
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