[EBB Sightings] Olive-sided Flycatcher's decline

Birders:

I first heard my "yard" Olive-sided Flycatcher sing on May 21, 1991,  
shortly after moving into our house above Tilden Park's Lake Anza.   
 From then on, the first song from this late-migrating breeder  
marked, for me, the end of the spring's migration.  Its earliest  
arrival date as my year yard bird was May 1, but May 10 to May 21 was  
more usual .  I did not record it in a couple of years, but I believe  
that was due to my own absence, or indolence, not the bird's.

Until May 21, 2005.  I heard and saw a single bird IN my yard, but it  
was present just that one day.  Since then . . . silence.  In  
subsequent years no Olive-sided Flycatcher has sung from nearby tall  
treetops along Wildcat Canyon Road, or elsewhere within hearing  
distance.

Olive-sided Flycatcher is a California Bird Species of Special  
Concern.  You can learn more about its status in the state by accessing

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/ssc/birds.html

and clicking on the "Olive-sided Flycatcher" species account link.

I mourn for the bird.

Dave Quady
Berkeley, California
davequady at att.net