[mou] Cottonwood County Sightings

[Jon Harder]

Sunday afternoon our Cottonwood County Bird Club observed a bird that 
neither I
(a birder with modest experience) nor Ed Duerksen (a birder with much 
experience)
could readily identify.

I will describe what we saw and the bird I think it most closely 
resembles and am
requesting other interpretations of the identity. First, the location 
was in a tree
overhanging the river in Pat's Grove County Park nine miles straight 
west of
Windom. We had a good view of the bird from about 50 feet with 
binoculars
for 30 to 45 seconds before it flew to the far side of the river.

The bird was a little larger than the warblers we were expecting to 
find in that
area, and Ed suggested it was some type of flycatcher.  I was skeptical 
because
its stance was more horizontal than either the larger Olive-Sided 
(which we also
saw in the area) or smaller Empidonax (many of which were in the area 
too).
We agreed it wasn't either a Phoebe or Wood-Pewee.

Besides its size and stance, its most striking characteristic was a 
very dark
(black?) tail that was much darker than the rest of its body which was 
a drab
brown-gray.  The bill was short and sharp (again, unlike the other 
flycatchers
typically seen here).  Finally, the underside was much lighter than the 
back and
wings and included noticeable brown streaks.

Although originally skeptical of Ed's hunch that this was some kind of 
flycatcher,
the closest match I can find for what we saw was either a juvenile or 
first
year female VERMILLION FLYCATCHER.  What other species might fit this
description?  The general size, tail color, bill shape and flank 
streaking all seem
to fit.

Other birds seen Sunday at Rat Lake just southeast of Delft include a 
pair of
AMERICAN BITTERNS and a pair of RED-NECKED GREBES in breeding
display plumage.

And in the past week at the lake in Mountain Lake the most noteworthy 
include:
first summer ORCHARD ORIOLE, NORTHER PARULA, many TENNESSEE
WARBLERS, NASHVILLE WARB LER, CHESTNUT-SIDE WARBLER,
MAGNOLIA WARBLER, CAPE MAY WARBLER, unusually low number of
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, BAY -BREASTED WARBLER,
BLACKPOLL WARBLER, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, WILSON'S
WARBLER, and CANADA WARBLER.

--
Jon Harder
Mountain Lake, MN