Hello, Sorry for the late post but my original email didn't go through last night? I understand the significance of this sighting to the Capital Region and I wanted to get it out everyone earlier.
Hello, At 1830 last night (May 7) I observed an ACADIAN FLYCATCHER calling and actively feeding throughout the mature hardwood woodlot behind our house. As I do every evening at this time of year, I was searching for returning breeders to our property. This bird was originally identified by its loud call in a large Bur Oak tree on my property. I was able to find it immediately at which point I realized that it was an Empidonax flycatcher, which caught me by surprise somewhat as I have not observed any flycatchers (except Eastern Phoebe) on the property to date. It appeared large, long tailed with long primary injection. Yellowish/olive/green colours were apparent on back and upperparts that showed up nicely next to the clean, pale underparts. Two distinct white wing bars were clear. Decent sun made these features easily apparent. The bird quickly fed on insects within the canopy, moving up and down through the mid to upper portions of the canopy. I was able to compare this bird to the larger resident Eastern Phoebe for approximately 3 minutes as they fed in the same trees. I observed this bird for approximately 10 minutes straight until it moved quickly NNW our my house into the mature hardwood stand. I followed and searched for 45 minutes afterward stopping every so often to listen for its call again but I was unable to rediscover the bird. I searched for the bird again this morning at approximately 0530 for 20 minutes to no avail. I will again search again when I get home today. Josh *Directions: * Oxford Mills is located approximately 60km southwest of Ottawa. _______________________________________________ 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
