I had a fancy maple tree in my back yard that died several years ago but I left it up because it seemed to be a favorite tree for birds to perch on. Last winter during one of the stronger storms the tree blew over So I cut it up and hauled it off with my spring clean up. One bird in particular that liked perching in this tree was an Olive-sided Flycatcher, this bird has been a regular for the last three years and I wondered if it would return this year after removing the dead tree. This morning my wondering was over as I was watching all the activity in my back yard I noticed the unmistakable flight over my neighbors backyard of a flycatcher hunting insects. The bird landed on a bare branch of my neighbor's Locust tree and for the next half hour I watched it take of chase a bug and return to it's branch. I was able to get a few pictures of it.
I am glad to have my old friend back. Olive-sided Flycatcher was the second flycatcher after the Western Kingbird that I was able to identify years ago when I started keeping my life list. My first Olive-sided Flycatcher was at Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake. That was a very good day about 10 years ago when I added several new life birds to my list. In addition to the Olive-sided Flycatcher I added the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Western Wood Peewee to my life list.
1 comment:
So how do you know that it is the exact bird that has visited for the last 3 years? I wouldn't be able to distinguish it from another.
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