[CT Birds] Western Flycatchers in the East - web search

[Roy Harvey]

Below is what I have been able to find on the web about records of
Western / Pacific Slope / Cordilleran Flycatcher from eastern states.

Roy Harvey
Beacon Falls, CT


New Jersey has one record from 1981.  This was before Western
Flycatcher was split into Pacific Slope Flycatcher and Cordilleran
Flycatcher in 1989, so it is not specific as to species.  The NJ
citation:

PACIFIC-SLOPE/CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER Empidonax
difficilis/occidentalis (1, 0)
1 Brigantine NWR, ATL 16 Nov 81 D Sibley, R Maurer AR96


Massachusetts has a recent November record that was not nailed down
between Yellow-bellied and Western.  I found the description below at
http://massbird.org/MARC/MARCreport11.htm.

"Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris), #05-53, November
4, 2005, Brewster (Barnstable). An Empidonax flycatcher with a very
green back and yellow belly was captured by a bander on November 4.
The date was very suspect for Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, but the p10
to p5 measurements were inconsistent with the most likely candidate,
one of the “Western” Flycatcher complex (Pacific-coast Flycatcher, E.
difficilis and Cordilleran Flycatcher, E. occidentalis). Based on
measurement, it was submitted to the MARC as Yellow-bellied, but
experts agreed there were too many anomalies to make a definitive
decision. (First ballot: Vote: 4-5)"


Pennsylvania apparently has at least two records for Pacific Slope
Flycatcher.  Their web site is pretty thin, but in a pdf I find an
index by species:

Pacific-slope;

Second State Record of Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Lancaster County;
Eric Witmer; 54; 156

Birding the Mundane and Finding the Rare... First Record of a
Pacific-slope Flycatcher East of the Mississippi; Joe Meloney &
Harold Morrin; 44; 135

Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Lancaster County; Franklin Haas; 44; 142


Virginia has it on the state list as the complex but I was unable to
find out anything more:
Pacific-slope/Cordilleran Flycatcher    E. difficilis/occidentalis


North Carolina is very interesting.  Their record is from January
2000.  They DID get recordings, but still did not make any definite
choice between Pacific Slope and Cordilleran, though the evidence
favored Pacific Slope.  There is a good bit of information on a
couple of web sites, including the recordings and some not very good
photos.

http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/chat/issues/2003/v67n1nc_brc_2002.pdf
http://www.carolinanature.com/birds/psfl.html