Fwd: [WYOBIRDS] Fork-tailed Flycatcher

[Brandon]

Looks like the Fort Collins area Fork-tailed Flycatcher has appeared near Casper, Wyoming.  This almost certainly the same bird I would think.

Brandon K Percival

Pueblo West, CO

-----Original Message-----
From: Wyoming's Birder List [mailto:WYOB...@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM] On Behalf Of Hustace Scott
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2018 2:01 PM
To: WYOB...@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
Subject: (EXT)[WYOBIRDS] Fork-tailed Flycatcher

I just saw a Fork-tailed Flycatcher in my fields SW of Casper. Zack has excellent photos and will post them to EBIRD. The flycatcher is at the very end of Shinn Rd, which is the road that heads east from 12 mile at the old tree farm. The road heads due south about a mile east of 12 Mile. He spent time on various posts and fence wires right around the cattle guard just north of the huge brick house, and right where it says No Trespassing. Any birder is welcome on Eagle Ridge Ranch land, and from that corner you can see most of the spots where the bird was seen. I am working near that area for the rest of the week, so I will know if he stays around. My phone number is 262-0055.

Stacey Scott
SW of Casper

__._,_.___

•

•

l

.

__,_._,___

[Jason Beason]

How can you assume this is the same bird? That seems like a pretty crazy assumption given distances between observation locations! Obviously, this is a rare bird this far north (for either state) but I think it would be nuts for the same bird to be found given the total amount of area and number of birders in the total amount of area. I may be way off here but just pointing out that we birders don't really cover a high percentage of the total landscape.

I chased this bird this evening and didn't find it. I live only about 15 miles from observation so had to try! Also, I just spoke with person who found bird and it was last seen at 5:30 pm today.

Jason Beason

Casper - Natrona County, WY

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CA%2BXeEuWemNpheinVXA092ip8ufFmKMRB%2BRK%3DFN_A-%3DzX30PVtA%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Jason Beason
Environmental Resources/Specialist I

SWCA Environmental Consulting

Casper, Wyoming

Phone: 307-377-0303

(~};)

[Brandon]

I wouldn't think there would be more than one Fork-tailed Flycatcher this far north in the Colorado and Wyoming area, and since one was found north of Fort Collins, and the bird was likely moving north, I'm not surprised one showed up in Wyoming (I think several people thought it was heading to Wyoming, after it was briefly seen in northern Colorado a few weeks ago).  This is a rare southern species, I doubt there would be two of them in the Colorado/Wyoming area in the last few weeks, though I guess there could be an invasion going on, of two of them, though unless the photos show it is completely different looking, I'd bet on it being the same bird.

Brandon K. Percival

Pueblo West, CO

Jason Beason
Environmental Resources/Specialist I

SWCA Environmental Consulting

Casper, Wyoming

Phone: 307-377-0303

(~};)

--

Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO

[Nathan Pieplow]

There are lots of cases of the exact same rare bird being seen hundreds of miles apart. The California Condor I found in Wyoming in July had been reported in central Utah ten days previously. In that case we know it was the same bird because it had a wing tag. And here are some other examples from a piece by Bill Schmoker and Jerry Liguori that we ran in Colorado Birds in 2010:

"Occasionally  a   rarity  is    tracked  photographically  over  a   considerable  distance.  A    juvenile  Ivory  Gull  identifiable  by  its  pattern  of    dark  spotting  spent  much  of  February  2009  in  Arcachon,  France,  then  turned  up  in  Cork  County,  Ireland  in  early  March  (Gantlett  2009).  Between  mid-August  and  October  2002,  a   juvenile  Brown  Pelican  with  a   distinctive  hole  in  the  inner  web  of  its  left  foot  was  tracked  from  Michigan  though  Quebec  and  Ontario  and  finally  to  New  York  (Wormington  2002).  A  leucistic  Herring  Gull  found  in  July  1996  at  Partridge  Creek  in  central  Yukon  was  spotted  on  23  June  1997  at  Whitehorse,  southern  Yukon,  645  km  away.  In  addition  to  being  leucistic,  it   had  a   pattern  of  flecking  on  its  iris  that  allowed  photographs  to confirm its identity (Sinclair et al. 2003)."

Source: https://cobirds.org/JournalArchives/2010-2019/2010%20Vol%2044/CB_2010_44_1_Jan.pdf

On the day the Fork-tailed was seen in Fort Collins, the south winds were so strong and sustained that it was widely assumed the bird had continued on to Wyoming. I'd love to see whether photos can demonstrate whether or not it might be the same individual.

Nathan Pieplow

Boulder

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CA%2BXeEuURhLC-cdAV3ZLHbPr%2BDtFS0CtdzKuJQVGusUdUu2868w%40mail.gmail.com.

[Jason Beason]

You may be correct but I am trying to point out that we birders only cover a tiny percentage of the total landscape and there is a good chance that there are multiple Fork-tailed Flycatchers in CO/WY right now. It will be interesting if photos can prove if this is the same individual.

Also, this location is very close to where a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was found by same person (Stacey Scott) this time last year!

Jason Beason

Casper - Natrona County

[William H Kaempfer]

Was it not the case that Colorado’s first record of Broad-billed Hummingbird from 2002 had previously been banded in Louisiana?

 

Bill Kaempfer

Boulder

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAFhaDV%2Bp1T%2B9LivbxH-Dr93Lg%2BULz4kE%2BM0O%3DMQGTbZKQLtVmg%40mail.gmail.com.

[ZACHARIAH HUTCHINSON]

I took a peak at the photos posted here from September in Larimer county. There is no obvious difference between the two birds, other than the tails. The bird near Casper “appears” to have a somewhat significantly longer tail (how about all that scientific jargon, eh). As you all know, that can be due to angle, extension, etc. The wind was blowing the tail straight in my photos. Also, the bird could have been finishing a molt 11 days ago. The subspecies monachus molts into September (Pyle 1997). That could be a great indication of this bird’s origin. Cool stuff, bird homies.

Zach
Casper, WY

[Dave Cameron]

Inquiring minds want to know-- is anyone chasing this bird today?

Dave Cameron

Denver

[Ted Floyd]

Hey, all. Here's some interesting perspective from David Sibley:

http://www.sibleyguides.com/2008/11/so-how-many-do-we-find/

Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County