[birding] Hammond's !?

[lisaaves at peak.org]

Don & I reported Hammond's Flycatcher on Monday 4/27.  We rely on the
Hammond's voice.  We'd probably just call it an Empid sp. if we didn't
hear its distinctive "pip" call or other sounds.  I'm just not a sharp
enough birder to identify most Empids visually.  When we see Hammond's
very close, the bill does look noticeably small and black to me.
Last year there was a big surge of Hammond's on the valley floor at this
time of year.  Soon they had all gone and we just had the Pacific-slope
and Willow Flycatchers.
Lisa Millbank

>Message: 2
>Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:46:01 -0700
>From: "M & R Campbell" <campbell at peak.org>
>Subject: [birding] Hammond's !?
>To: "Midvalley birding" <list at midvalleybirding.org>
>Message-ID: <38CBBB6632EF4FD283F2BAC3A03B0942 at maryPC>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

>The several, recent reports of Hammond's Flycatchers in the mid-valley
>caught my
>interest, had my envy, and made me a little suspicious--since I can
hardly >make the
>call on a Hammond's, much less find one in my backyard.  Yesterday
>evening, though,
>I found an empid in our willows with a distinct eye-ring that just wasn't
>big or
>bold enough to make it a Pacific-Slope.  The bird gave me plenty of
looks-->as
>flycatchers often do--to see a deeply notched tail, long primary
>projection,
>wingtips extending almost 1/4 of the length of the tail beyond the
>undertail
>coverts, and a dark lower mandible that was orange-ish only at the very
>base.  I
>even had time to walk up to the house, peruse some guides, and find the
>bird again.
>The only nagging problem was the relative size to the bill, which didn't
>look "tiny"
>to me.  But it didn't look big enough to belong to a Western Flycatcher,
>either.
>Finally, I decided that the bill on that bird could only look large to
>someone
>looking straight

>  up at it through binoculars from ten feet away.  So, I'm adding HAMMOND'S
>FLYCATCHER to my yard list.  I hope all other empid identifiers will
share >my
>self-congratulations, as well as my nagging sense of unease.