Then on May 13th I pursued an Olive-sided Flycatcher reported at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. I missed it by less than a minute, but then stayed for another 3 hours unsuccessfully waiting for it to return. Then again maybe it did return. Halfway through my vigil I spotted a large dark flycatcher flying across the river, leaving the Biltmore side roughly even with the island where the Olive-sided had been seen previously. I followed it in my binocs as it continued across the river and land in a tree on the far side. Even though I could see it perched, given that it was roughly 500 feet away I couldn’t be sure of the ID. It could well have been the Olive-sided, but I couldn’t eliminate Phoebe, even though no one had reported one in the immediate area.
So the next morning when I started my daily “Big Sit” in my back yard I couldn’t help but think I could have already seen Olive-sided Flycatcher in NC - not once, but twice. I settled in and quickly ticked off the local breeders that were here daily, like Baltimore Oriole, Hooded Warbler, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, and Eastern Pewee. And there was still a smattering of late migrant warblers like Redstart, Blackpoll, and Chestnut-sided, plus a Swainson’s Thrush. A typical morning on the back deck…
And then I heard a call coming from the top of the canopy that I didn’t instantly recognize – two clear plaintive notes, the first higher in pitch than the second. Then it hit me –it was the last 2 notes of the Olive-sided’s “quick three beers” song. I listened intently for it to sing again – but to no avail. I searched the bare snag where last Fall’s bird had perched, and all the other possible tall perches I could see, but again no luck.
Now I started second-guessing myself. I’m very familiar with the song of the Olive-sided, which is quite diagnostic. But just maybe it was the second half of a Pewee’s song – the one that drops in pitch. But I could hear my resident (likely breeding) Pewee singing at the time far east of the house a hundred yards away. Plus when would you hear a Pewee just give one snippet of one song? Not to mention that call is quite different from the “three beers” notes. And what about the fact that I didn’t hear the Olive-sided’s first “quick” note? I’ve heard other Olive-sided’s singing where the first note was very difficult or impossible to hear because the bird was farther away, or there was too much other bird song in the area. Then again, maybe I just didn’t notice it that day in my back yard.
My gut/initial ID is almost always correct, and I couldn’t come up with other likely options. So at the end of the day I decided to go with my initial ID and conclude it was a less-than-cooperative Olive-sided Flycatcher. I just wish it had called again. Or better yet – sat in the open for me to see my first Olive-sided for the state. Then again, perhaps I had already seen Olive-sided twice before in western NC…
Olive-sided Flycatcher was #295 for my NC statelist. In my statebird map below the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are the ones where it is regular but I haven’t caught up with it yet. This species is generally rare in the east, and especially in the southeast where its migration routes just barely cut across the northern part of the region. As a result, I still need it in quite a number of eastern states.
The Olive-sided was an amazing 125th species for the yard list. This has been a spectacular Spring in the yard with many additions to my yard list including-
4/5 - Black Vulture - since then seen most sunny days; Rough-winged Swallow
4/6 - Great Blue Heron - flyover
4/8 - Common Loon – flyover in breeding plumage;
Prairie Warbler4/14 - Worm-eating Warbler, Palm Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk
4/16 - Orange-crowned Warbler
4/20 - Fish Crow
4/21 – Mallard, Purple Martin
4/24 - Orchard Oriole, Red-headed Woodpecker
4/27 - Summer Tanager
5/1 - Cerulean Warbler
5/2 - Veery
5/3 - Barn Swallow
5/4 - Kentucky Warbler
5/6 - Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs
5/13- Yellow Warbler
A few of these really stand out -
Red-headed Woodpecker – I’ve had one in my yard 3 times now, often enough to make me think they could be nesting nearby. On one of my walks up the mountain I played some tape and got one to instantly respond. Since then I’ve heard a bird calling from above the yard numerous times. And a couple of those times there were 2 calling birds. I need to head up there one day this summer to try to locate a nesting tree.
Summer Tanager – Back in my New England days Summer Tanager was a rarity I searched for often in early spring as an overshooting migrant. So when I heard its 2-note “chick it” call in the yard, it brought back fond memories of a successful northeast Tanager search. And the bird was a young 2-toned red/yellow bird which was often the case for the New England birds as well.
Shorebird Flock – I have a tree in my yard that budded out this spring, but then those buds never opened. Early that morning I was searching through the canopy of that tree with my binoculars in hopes that I could find at least some of the buds opening up just when a flock of large shorebirds flew into my binocular field. I was able to get an extended view of the flock as I followed them across the sky in the distance and concluded I had about 10 Lesser Yellowlegs and 1 Dowitcher, which was most likely a Short-billed. I doubt I would have ever seen these birds if I hadn’t been inspecting the tree buds. Boy was I lucky. Unfortunately the tree wasn’t as lucky – I’m pretty sure it has died.
Yellow Warbler – that was my 29th warbler species for the yard list in less than a year, with 26 species this Spring and 22 species last Fall. There aren’t too many more possibilities, with perhaps Wilson’s, Connecticut, Mourning, and Swainson’s being the most likely. My yard is pretty dry, so it’s not likely I’ll ever get other more remote possibilities from wetter habitats like Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush, or Prothonotary. But then again, who knows.
Like I said, it’s been a spectacular Spring in the yard.
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