Hello All,

I hate to do this, but I wanted to get the word out of an unidentified Empid
I saw about 30 minutes ago at Gravelly Point next to Reagan National Airport
in Arlington.  The bird was definitively NOT a Phoebe, the only likely
flycatcher around this time of year.  I was standing next to the fenced-in
area in the area closest to the river near the few pine trees when it flew
from behind one of them and landed very briefly on the fence - perhaps 3-5
seconds.  In that time I was able to get the overall coloration and
structure of the bird, but that's about it.

It did not resemble most of the eastern empids in my opinion, but Least
would come closest.  The bird was grey overall above with a proportionately
smaller head than a Least relative to the body.  The bill was quite short
and moderately thick at the base.  I did not see clearly whether it had
strong wingbars as it was facing me, but when it flew it seemed to have a
longish tail relative to other empids.  It had a fairly dusky throat and
upper breast, fading to more pale white toward the legs and vent.  Eyering
was not prominent, but there.  It did not vocalize.

I have no idea what species this might represent, but a couple of
possibilities might come to mind.  I don't think it was an eastern bird as
washed grey as it was in the throat and upper breast.  I searched the entire
area for a while after but could not relocate the bird.  Hopefully it can be
refound and photographed.

By the way, the target county bird (Meadowlark) was present and
raspberry-calling from the fenced-in area.

Jay Keller,
Arlington, VA