[EBB Sightings] Olive-sided Flycatcher

Dear Birders:

I originally wrote this posting 10 days ago, but then 'chickened out' when it came time to push the 'send' button because I didn't actually see the bird.  My neighbor, mentioned below, had called me in great excitement: "It's back!"  By the time I got down to her house, it was gone.  Judy is not a 'birder,' but she knows her Olive-sided Flycatcher.  Still, in looking at the photos, I wondered if maybe it was really a Black Phoebe, a regular in the neighborhood.  But Judy remained adamant.  'Her' flycatcher was 'flycatching' from one of the uppermost branches of the tall cypress, tops of tall trees not being a favored Black Phoebe perch.  

After reading Pat Bachetti's report this morning of seeing a OS Flycatcher at Diamond Park, and knowing that Pat is one of the local expects, I decided to send my posting after all.  Two photos follow in a separate email.

October 16, 2009 

Recent postings have most often been about the arrival of winter resident birds, with a few reports of the last of the migrants passing through.

My neighbor (Judy LePire) lives two blocks away at the top of one of the canyons that feed water in Codornices Creek (at Avenida and Olympus in the Berkeley Hills).? The  half-dead cypress tree below her has been a favorite perch over the years for the Olive-sided Flycatcher.? Some years it has stayed the summer.? In the last couple of years it has stayed only for a few days but not before stirring us up with its "Quick - Three - Beers."

Well, it's back again (or maybe a relative), silent this time but flying out to snag a flying insect before returning to its perch.? Judy took some pictures just before sunset, but the profile is telling and I've asked her to attach the photo and send it on to you.

By now it may well be winging its way to South America for the winter.? We hope it returns next summer with a mate and settles in this time.

--Phila Rogers
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