As Paul deduced, Ted's intriguing Empid is a Dusky Flycatcher -- one that's quite upset. Reasons why it's a Dusky at http://www.xeno-canto.org/forum/topic/9362.
Thanks to Ted for a great recording, and to Paul for a good analysis.
Boulder
On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 8:37 AM, Paul Hurtado <paul.j.hurtado@gmail.com> wrote:
I'd love to dig deeper and do a proper analysis of the recording, but a quick glance at the photos and some browsing of Empidonax sp. call notes on xeno-canto.org has me leaning heavily towards Dusky.
1. The tail shape and dark tip on the underside of the mandible visible in this composite (and enlarged) photo of Ted's two photos seems to rule out "Traill's", Acadian, etc. All those broad-tailed species with an unmarked underside to their mandible.2. Browsing call notes on xeno-canto, it seems like Dusky is a really good fit for both the pitch and inflection. I can't find similar call notes from Hammond's or other species, however I didn't do an exhaustive search, nor did I read up on described call notes from Dusky or these other species.I've opened up a discussion on xeno-canto.org regarding the ID of the bird in the recording, so hopefully some additional Empidophyles chime in on the ID. That discussion is at http://www.xeno-canto.org/forum/topic/9362
Lasly, if you've read down this far, and all this nit-picking over audio details is both new and fascinating to you, I would encourage you to head over to EarBirding.com -- an excellent resource with information about birding by ear and studying sounds in a bit more detail than the pneumonics we're used to seeing in field guides. Plus, that website is run by Colorado's very own Nathan Pieplow and Andrew Spencer and is full of content related to identifying Colorado birds by their vocalizations.Good birding,-Paul HurtadoOn Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 9:01 PM, Ted Floyd <tedfloyd57@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Hello, Birders.
The long and the short of it: There's an intriguing Empidonax flycatcher just beyond campsite #13, Loop B, in the Aspenglen campground, Rocky Mountain National Park. Perhaps the 7/22 DFO field trip can try for the bird?The rest of the story:Saturday morning, June 7, I digibinned and audio-recorded an Empidonax flycatcher whose ID has eluded me. I tried putting the bird in various boxes. Then I emailed the evidence to various experts, and I got an amazing diversity of responses:* Willow* most likely Alder* Acadian* Acadian or Alder* Hammond's* Dusky* Dusky or Gray* some hybrid* a hybrid, but not Hammond's x Dusky; Dusky probably involved, maybe Dusky x Gray* let's not rule out Pine Flycatcher as a parentWhatever this bird is, it's not typical.Photo-documenting empids with binoculars and and iPhone, I have found, is hard. So the digibinned photos are poor. Here they are, for what it's worth:The audio is better:Arch McCallum, one of the experts who've reviewed the evidence, offers some sage advice: Don't try to put this bird in a box.What do you think it is?Ted FloydLafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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--
Paul J. Hurtado
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Ohio State University
Mathematical Biosciences Institute, http://mbi.osu.edu/
Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, http://ael.osu.edu/
E-mail: hurtado.10@mbi.osu.edu
Webpage: http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/hurtado.10--To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CABpQ-FU%2BrfYAJO-7ymsRd9KwFadCZzkJHzBF--TrwDCKrQq4bA%40mail.gmail.com.
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