today, I observed a bird in my yard that has completely stumped me.
when I first noticed it, the bird was feeding on insects in a tall fir tree at 3:40 pm. at first I thought it was an Eastern Phoebe, but as I watched it longer it was obviously not. it was hopping/flying rather clumsily between the branches, sometimes hanging from them to pick insects off the end. the bird was slightly larger than a Phoebe, and had a brown back, rump, nape, crown, and cheeks, with clean white underparts and throat, and completely white outer tail feathers. it had a relatively large head, and looked very much like a type of flycatcher.
the white outer tail feathers are what really have me confused.
any ideas on the identification of this bird would be appreciated.