On Wednesday an unusual
Empidonax flycatcher was found in The Ramble. All Eastern species are easily ruled out, so it must be a western vagrant. Opinion settled on
'Western' Flycatcher, a species that includes both
Cordillera Fycatcher and
Pacific-slope Flycatcher. They were split on the basis of a paper by Johnson and Marten in 1988. This split has since been questioned by a number of other researchers, in the small area of contact between the two species in northern USA and Canada there is widespread hybridisation. The separation of these is extremely difficult, and is essentially impossible without audio recordings, and highly dubious even then. There is only one previous New York record, in 1995, and that was left as 'Western' (despite being trapped and examined in-hand). It seems unlikely that a definitive statement on specific identity will be possible.
Update 25 Nov: Apparently hope of an identification is not extinguished. A fecal sample was collected and hopefully some DNA will be able to be collected. We await the results with bated breath. The wonders of modern birding techniques...
Update 19th May 2016: Wonder of wonders, the results of the DNA analysis are in and the verdict is
Pacific-Slope Flycatcher. Not a lifer as I had one in California a few years ago, but at least I can put a name to the little bugger!
New York's first
Pacific-Slope Flycatcher.
The
Great Horned Owl has taken up residence near the feeders.
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