A Rare Bird Story
An Ash-throated Flycatcher, a rare western visitor to Connecticut, was found and identified by A.J. Hand and Tina Green at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport in mid-November of 2015. I was lucky enough to get several photos on a nice sunny day, including the sequence here. According to the Connecticut Ornithological Association Avian Records Committee, this species of flycatcher has only been found in Connecticut 5 times previously. I actually saw the first one recorded in the State that visited Stamford in 1993.
Ash-throated Flycatchers are distinguished from a related and relatively common breeding bird in Connecticut, the Great Crested Flycatcher, only by subtle differences in size and plumage, particularly its less bright yellow belly feathers and a dark tip to all tail feathers (not evident in these photos). Identification also requires careful elimination of the very similar western Myiarchus flycatchers Brown-crested, Dusky-capped, and Nuttings.
Ooh, I see a fly.
Yay, I caught a fly.
Ooh, got an itch. Damn, dropped the fly.
I'll eat berries instead.
While at the Park, I also located another western bird, a Dicksissel, one of several western species that found their way east during unusually strong southwest to northeast weather patterns this Fall.
Here it is next to a common House Sparrow.
An Ash-throated Flycatcher, a rare western visitor to Connecticut, was found and identified by A.J. Hand and Tina Green at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport in mid-November of 2015. I was lucky enough to get several photos on a nice sunny day, including the sequence here. According to the Connecticut Ornithological Association Avian Records Committee, this species of flycatcher has only been found in Connecticut 5 times previously. I actually saw the first one recorded in the State that visited Stamford in 1993.
Ash-throated Flycatchers are distinguished from a related and relatively common breeding bird in Connecticut, the Great Crested Flycatcher, only by subtle differences in size and plumage, particularly its less bright yellow belly feathers and a dark tip to all tail feathers (not evident in these photos). Identification also requires careful elimination of the very similar western Myiarchus flycatchers Brown-crested, Dusky-capped, and Nuttings.
Ooh, I see a fly.
While at the Park, I also located another western bird, a Dicksissel, one of several western species that found their way east during unusually strong southwest to northeast weather patterns this Fall.
Here it is next to a common House Sparrow.
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