And now for something completely awesome. My theme for August has been something “different” and although birds are my favorite topic, a particular kind of bird can still be different now and then. This summer has proven to be noteworthy because of the severe drought that we find ourselves in, but the drought of liquid precipitation is being offset by a deluge of bird species.
For those of you who may still be “newer” readers of mine it may be helpful for you to know that I am one of those compulsive “listers.” This affliction can take many forms among my birding brethren, but in my case I have fallen into the habit of counting the number of bird species that I see (or hear) from within the limits of my 6 acres of mixed forest, meadow and “yard.” Every month gets a fresh list and every month has a record that was set during one previous year or another. This is a game that I like to play while also enjoying the birds.
At of the beginning of August, the record that I was looking at was 53 speices of birds. This record was set in 2019 and had been relatively safe because of the 2020 and 2021 vacation schedules that took me away from home for substantial portions of August. This year, however, I have been home for the entire month and the lack of rain has allowed me to go down to my Thinking Chair any day that I please. Furthermore, I think the drought has “stirred” things up a bit and my current list has 59 species checked off. One factor that has helped this record number of sightings is the fact that juvenile birds of myriad species seem to be swarming all over the landscape and among the unusual faces was one that I had never seen before.
So, with great delight I introduce you to a new life bird for me: the yellow-bellied flycatcher (Empidonazflaviventris). Somehow, in my 34 years of birding, I have failed to cross paths with this particular species. That is probably because the bird doesn’t breed in Massachusetts. My reference for this statistic is a copy of “A Checklist of the Birds of Massachusetts,” published by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The species is only listed as present (in very small numbers) in the last week of May and the last 3 weeks of August. It appears that I simply got lucky.
This would explain my confusion upon seeing the bird. Following the advice of John Burroughs, “One only has to sit down in the woods or the fields, or by the shore of the river or the lake, and nearly everything of interest will come round.” So, I go to the same place every day and watch the day’s story unfold. I’ve become so familiar with that little slice of the world that differences really pop out at me, but sometimes the differences can be perplexing.
The Empidonax flycatchers (a reference to their genus) are a group of small birds that are virtual clones of one another. The famed field guide author and illustrator Roger Tory Peterson provided a plate that presents the 5 species of this group together. They are the Acadian, willow, alder, least and yellow-bellied flycatchers, and the differences between them are diabolically minimal. Perhaps this is why he titled that plate, “The Empidonax Complex.”
The willow, alder and least flycatchers are regular breeders in Massachusetts. The range of the Acadian flycatcher has expanded north in the last 40 years, but the yellow-bellied flycatcher remains to the north during the breeding season. My brother, who lives in Maine, was very helpful in confirming an identification of this bird because he sees them all the time. The key field marks that we looked at were the eye ring, the bars on the wings and the overall yellow appearance of the bird (as though it had been dipped in a yellow tea).
As with all closely related species, the differences between them can be very slight. In the case of the Empidonax flycatchers, they have specialized on different types of habitats. Yellow-bellied flycatchers prefer boreal forests and bogs where they specialize in feeding on the flying insects of the middle levels of the forest. Other species may forage in different habitats and in different levels; carving up the landscape into portions labeled “yours” and “mine.”
Drat and bother, I’m out of time. Well, I hope you are all able to enjoy the last full week of August. I also hope that we can get some rain sometime soon, but every morning that it is not raining I will be down in my Thinking Chair. I am trying to set an unbreakable record and with so much time left I think it will be far easier to identify the Empidonax flycatchers than it has ever been.
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 25 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more in formation visit his website at www.speakingofnature.com, or head over to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.