Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Flycatcher sighting spurs search

Empidonax flycatchers are member of a large family of birds, tyrant flycatchers. They are difficult to identify because of non-descript plumage. Many birders give up and lump the whole tribe.
   Not Mel Cooksie. He is a talented, dedicated birder who lives to bird. When he posted a notice on the Internet recently that he had found a gray flycatcher in Padre Isles, many birders went to try see it.
   Bird hunt
   Empidonax (pronounced Em-PID-oh-nax) is an impressive word. Many birders, the lumpers, often refer to the members of this genus as "empids." All are small flycatchers with white eye rings. Typical flycatcher behavior is to perch on a twig, fly out to capture an insect, return to the same twig.
   The behavior of a gray is a little different. Here is Cooksie's description of the one he found: "I first noticed that the bird looked too long, thin, and rangy for our regular empids. It was apparent that the bird was not anything local when I saw the overall very pale gray color, the very pale face, which contrasted with the dark crown and the very longish, orangish bill. The eye ring was very thin, completely uniform, and noticeable, despite its vague contrast with the pale face. ... The bird fed downward from its perch, in typical gray flycatcher fashion, sallying to the ground and back up each time.
   "It constantly dipped its tail downward. Both outer retrices (tail feathers) showed white, not translucent edges," he continued. "The bird was completely silent."
   The location of the bird as described by Cooksie was "at the end of Sea Pines, which is the last street on the Island (North Padre) as you go south toward Padre Island National Seashore. In other words, the furthest street south. One would turn right off Park Road 22 at Sea Pines, and go to the end of Sea Pines, park and check out the little pond at the left. ... Look at the tops of all the weed stalks."
   Barbara Olsen and Kathy Griffith found the gray flycatcher the next day. Olson, in a post to TXbirds, wrote: "The gray flycatcher that Mel Cooksie reported on 8/29 was at the same location this morning at 11 a.m."
   After about 30 minutes, she said, they saw a likely candidate, about 60 feet away. As they watched, it dipped its tail and flew to the ground to catch a bug. It changed its perch several times, coming closer, to within 20 feet. They were able to see the white tail edges and other field marks clearly. When I went, I was not lucky enough to see this western empidonax.
   See the birders
   The Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi will meet at 6 p.m. this afternoon at the Fred B. Jones Sanctuary for a covered dish picnic. Visitors and new members are welcome. Bring covered dish, beverage and eating utensils. For information call Barbara Olsen, membership chairman, at (361) 992-1887. Take Highway 181 over the Harbor Bridge. Exit at Moore Avenue (Farm-to-Market 893), turn left and go 6.5 miles to intersection with Farm-to-Market 1074. Turn left on County Road 3265, also called Koontz Loop, go half a mile to entrance on left.
  
  

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Phyllis Yochem, a Corpus Christi resident, has studied birds in Texas since 1960.

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