Apologies for the delayed post — I wanted to get home and do some research beforehand.
This morning at around 1030am I had a probable GRAY FLYCATCHER at Hawk Cliff near Port Stanley. The bird was about 15 ft up in a patch of sumacs on the left side of the road as one ascends out of the big ravine heading south. Briefly: The bird was clearly an Empid, with a strikingly visible yellow lower mandible (cf. the bill of a breeding plumage Mourning Warbler). The tail was a bit wider and the eyering was less pronounced than what I would expect for a Least, and the jizz was similarly wrong for a Traill’s type). There was some faint but visible streaking on the sides of the breast. Most notably, the bird repeatedly wagged its tail. Based on my online search for Gray photos, it seems like the best possible match. Please note: This is a “probable,” and I and several observers could not relocate the bird 20 minutes later (perhaps because it was in a feeding flock with warblers). Nevertheless, I opted to post the sighting in light of the Long Point records on 29 and 30 September. Hawk Cliff road is at the base of Fairview/Road 22, S of Dexter Line and E of Port Stanley. Chris Burris Waterloo _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
