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Great Crested Flycatcher in Highly Aberrant Plumage??
- To: "Carolinabirds" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
- Subject: Great Crested Flycatcher in Highly Aberrant Plumage??
- From: "John Fussell" <jfuss@clis.com>
- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 21:20:55 -0400
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
This week I got a call from the local wildlife shelter, asking me to look at
a very young bird they thought might be a Great Crested Flycatcher, but with
a very strange plumage.
The bird did seem to have the overall shape of a flycatcher, and it came
from a residential area. As to its being a Great Crested Flycatcher I would
tend to trust the judgment of the staff of the wildlife shelter in that they
see so many young birds constantly. (They had a young Orchard Oriole there
during my visit, as well as the young of many other species--Blue Jays,
Mockingbirds, Robins, etc.)
Anyway, if the bird was a Great Crested Flycatcher, or any other bird found
in North Carolina, it had a very aberrant plumage.
The bird was yellowish colored virtually all over, with a dark wide band
down the back, and some dark in the tips of the outer primaries as I recall.
(I understand that Jamie Cameron has taken some pictures of the bird.)
If this bird survives to adulthood and a birder were to spot it, he/she
might well identify it as a Great Crested Flycatcher (if that is indeed what
it is), based on size, posture, call, etc. But, if they were to see a bird
in this plumage merely as a fly-by, they would forever be asking themselves
"What in the hell was that bird I saw back in 2001?"
John Fussell
Morehead City, NC
jfuss@clis.com