Willow or Alder?
Last year I posted on the subject of a possible Alder Flycatcher in Veteran's Park in Watertown (actually in the powerline cut behind the park). The song was so much like an Alder to me that I recorded it as such for a couple of years in my journal.
After the post last year, Greg Hanisek investigated this bird and he agreed it was a song very much like an Alder but he was leaning toward a Willow singing like an Alder as the habitat is very much Willow friendly. Greg - please correct me if I'm wrong with your estimation.
Anyway - Today at noon I took a walk in the powerline cut and heard a flycatcher song that was a little more Willow than Alder but yet still mixed... not quite a pure Willow song. It will be interesting to see (if this bird hangs around) if this song becomes more Alder-like as it settles in over the next month as in the previous years.
If anyone is interested... Veteran's Park in Watertown is on Nova Scotia Drive off of 262. If you drive the loop-road and come to the basketball courts... Park there. The path to the powerline cut is across from the courts. Keep straight on the path and goes to the right and connects to a service trail. Walk that service trail. This area has been pretty good birding over the years.
Bill,
Your recollection of my thoughts last year are right on the money.
Funny you
should post this, because I went up to the site a week or so ago and
heard
what I assume is the same bird in the same place. While I was there he
sounded very much like an Alder, despite my doubts about an Alder being
in
that location. I was going to post something then but never got around
to
it. As I listened to song after song I thought maybe this is an Alder
and
they're going to start a little southward range expansion, ala
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I was probably influenced by the fact that
there
was a sapsucker there at the time drumming on a utility pole (well
south of
that species' historic range in CT)!
So the safe answer right now is: interesting and I'm not really sure
what's
up.
Greg Hanisek
Waterbury
William Sweet w.sweet@sbcglobal.net wrote: Last year I posted on the subject of a possible Alder Flycatcher in Veteran's Park in Watertown (actually in the powerline cut behind the park). The song was so much like an Alder to me that I recorded it as such for a couple of years in my journal.
After the post last year, Greg Hanisek investigated this bird and he agreed it was a song very much like an Alder but he was leaning toward a Willow singing like an Alder as the habitat is very much Willow friendly. Greg - please correct me if I'm wrong with your estimation.
Anyway - Today at noon I took a walk in the powerline cut and heard a flycatcher song that was a little more Willow than Alder but yet still mixed... not quite a pure Willow song. It will be interesting to see (if this bird hangs around) if this song becomes more Alder-like as it settles in over the next month as in the previous years.
If anyone is interested... Veteran's Park in Watertown is on Nova Scotia Drive off of 262. If you drive the loop-road and come to the basketball courts... Park there. The path to the powerline cut is across from the courts. Keep straight on the path and goes to the right and connects to a service trail. Walk that service trail. This area has been pretty good birding over the years.
This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org
Posted on behalf of Peter Hornak of the Naugatuck Valley Audubon Society. I thought this would be of interest to the list since Jim's photographs are so spectacular and this show is quite popular:
Hi everyone,
We will be holding our annual dinner and program on Tuesday, June 17th. Everyone is invited!!! The dinner will be held at 6:30 PM and the program will follow at 7:30 PM. Everyone is welcome to the dinner and the program or the program only.
This year, Jim Zipp, accomplished nature photographer and owner of The Fat Robin Wild Bird and Nature store in Hamden, will be giving a program on birds of prey. Jim's work has been regularly published in National Geographic, Birders World, Birding and Wildbird. He has traveled all over North America birding and photographing nature. This will be a wonderful program.
Program: In Search of Birds of Prey, a North American Journey
This 2 projector program on birds of prey from hawks to owls and eagles to vultures is based on experiences and photographs taken over 30 years in the field. We will travel from Florida to Alaska with stops at many points in between to see not only the raptors that call Connecticut home but those we seldom or never see. Jim ran a hawk banding station for 18 years at Lighthouse Point in New Haven since he and raptor expert Brian Wheeler established it together in 1981. Discussion is kept light however and does not get bogged down with charts and numbers. The program concludes with a presentation of favorite images set to music.
The annual dinner will start at 6:30 PM. The dinner will be catered by the Twisted Vine restaurant in Derby. The menu will include Lemon Chicken, baked ziti, turkey sausage and peppers, roasted vegetables with light oil and seasoning, steamed vegetables with light butter, roasted potatoes, garden salad, Italian bread and butter.
The cost of the dinner and the program is $22 adults/ $12 children 12 and younger.
IMPORTANT!! For the dinner, if you haven't bought your tickets yet, please RSVP as soon as possible!!! We must have a count for the caterer. Please email Barbara Parente (bmoose2933@aol.com) to let us know you are coming. Dinner tickets will not be available at the door!!
For the program alone there is a suggested donation of $4/adult, $2/students. Admission to the program alone at 7:30 is available at the door.
After the program we will be having our annual fund raising silent auction. If you can, please bring something to auction. Items new or lightly used work well. Annuals from your garden work great.
Date/Time: Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Dinner 6:30 PM
Program 7:30 PM
Location: Kellogg Environmental Center
500 Hawthorne Avenue
Derby, CT
Patrick Comins, Meriden
Is it possible this bird is a hybrid of the 2 species? It is my
understanding from reading/learning about bird song that Empidonax song is
innate and not learned. Therefore, wouldn't a bird that seems to have a
song that is similar to both species suggest it was a hybrid of some sort or
a genetic variant at the very least? Considering how similar these species
are, hybridization doesn't seem all that unlikely.
Julie Keefer
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 2:58 PM, William Sweet w.sweet@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Last year I posted on the subject of a possible Alder Flycatcher in
Veteran's Park in Watertown (actually in the powerline cut behind the park).
The song was so much like an Alder to me that I recorded it as such for a
couple of years in my journal.
After the post last year, Greg Hanisek investigated this bird and he
agreed it was a song very much like an Alder but he was leaning toward a
Willow singing like an Alder as the habitat is very much Willow friendly.
Greg - please correct me if I'm wrong with your estimation.
Anyway - Today at noon I took a walk in the powerline cut and heard a
flycatcher song that was a little more Willow than Alder but yet still
mixed... not quite a pure Willow song. It will be interesting to see (if
this bird hangs around) if this song becomes more Alder-like as it settles
in over the next month as in the previous years.
If anyone is interested... Veteran's Park in Watertown is on Nova Scotia
Drive off of 262. If you drive the loop-road and come to the basketball
courts... Park there. The path to the powerline cut is across from the
courts. Keep straight on the path and goes to the right and connects to a
service trail. Walk that service trail. This area has been pretty good
birding over the years.
This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA)
for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
For subscription information visit
http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org