The Making of Myiarchus Flycatchers

If you happened upon this bird, what does your gut say it is?

There are some birds that are no-brainer identifications simply because nothing else looks like that species. However, many birds have nearly identical cousins and therefore demand a little more of our time and attention before putting a name to them. Your first impression of the bird pictured above may depend entirely upon where in the world you live and what you might expect in your area.

As soon as I saw this bird, I put a name to it. Aside from initial impressions, I spent no time studying its field marks and didn't bother confirming its characteristics in one of my field guide apps. I quickly snapped a few pictures to share on this blog, never questioning my identification of the bird. Because of experience and familiarity with birds in the region, one might say that this is a perfectly acceptable practice. Having recently traveled to Arizona and North Carolina where very similar looking birds to this one exist, perhaps I should not have been so quick to jump to my conclusion. While reviewing the images I wondered, "Could this bird be something else? This train of thought led to the question, "What makes this flycatcher different from the other twenty plus birds in the Myiarchus genus?" (side note: my online search of Latin and Greek roots informs us that the meaning of myiarchus is "fly-ruler", or "rules over flies". Seems fitting for a tyrant flycatcher.)

My rapid trigger pulling on bird identification is dangerous. It could lead to misidentifications and maybe even some public shaming. More importantly, it might cause me to miss out on the glory of finding a true rarity for the region.

Not long after sunrise, I had just crossed the Utah border into Idaho and was at a rest area amid a small forest of juniper trees. This was a decent sized bird conspicuously singing its aubade from atop a dead tree... smaller than an American Robin, about the same size as a Western Kingbird...maybe a bit smaller. As soon as I saw the rusty color in the wings, that was enough for me to determine it was an Ash-throated Flycatcher. But is it? Could it be a vagrant Brown, Dusky, or Great-crested Flycatcher? Or what about an even more rare Nutting's or La Sagra's?! Let's take a look at the field characteristics and see what we discover...

Given that I had previously seen an Ash-throated Flycatcher at this location and that other birders have reported seeing them there, let's look at the field marks of an Ash-throated Flycatcher as noted my digital field guide apps on my iPhone.

Sibley: Whitish wing-bars = Check. Whitish throat = Check. Very pale yellow below = Check. Whitish edges on secondaries = Check. Dark color across tip of tail feathers = Check.

Audubon Birds: Hindcrown peaked when alert = Check. Rufous primary edges; white secondary edges = Check. Narrow pale margins to tertials = Hmm...diagram in app points to tail-feathers, so an error in the app there. Dull olive above (back browner that similar Myiarchus) = Definitely dull olive-brown back, but nothing to compare it to. Throat and breast grayish-white = Check. Habitat: desert, dry woods = Check.

iBird Pro: Gray-brown upperparts = Check. Pale gray throat and breast = Check. Gray-brown tail with rufous highlights = I'd say more brown to dark with a hint of rufous. Pale yellow belly = Check. Bill, legs, and feet are black = Check, but there is some lighter coloring at the base of the bill too.

Peterson: Two wing bars = Check. Whitish throat = Check. Pale Gray breast = Check. Pale Yellowish belly = Check. Rufous tail = not so apparent. Head slightly bushy = Check.

You would think after reviewing four different field guide apps that it would be slam-dunk i.d.. Given the habitat and location, calling this bird an Ash-throated Flycatcher is a pretty safe bet. But take a look at the images below...don't most of the attributes above match the birds below too?

These closely related species do have subtle difference...the amount and brightness of the yellow on the belly, the amount of rufous in the tail feathers, bill and body shape-size-color, and slight contrasting colors in the face. Good luck!

Great-crested Flycatcher - by Scott Simmons

Brown-crested Flycatcher - by Stephen Pollard

Dusky-capped Flycatcher - by Ron Wolf

Nutting's Flycatcher - by Jeremy Medina

La Sagra's Flycatcher - David Pavlik

The moral of the story: relying on initial impressions is generally okay, but when it comes to birds with very similar appearing relatives, give them some due diligence and study them. Once you've learned the key differences between the similar looking birds, combined with experience and knowledge of birds in the region, you'll be able to pull that identification trigger quickly and confidently. This kind of challenge is just another reason why birding is fun!